A Bleached Honeymoon
by Minielf
Summary: Newlyweds Ichigo and Rukia and sent on a round a world trip to clean up the restless spirits. Hijinks, mysteries and romance ensures. Long awaited sequel to Bleach: After the War.
1. Chapter 1: Tokyo

A Bleached Honeymoon

This is the sequel to Bleach: After the War. It's not neccessary to have read the previous story before reading this one, but it will help explain a lot of the developments and terms thst happen in this chapter.

Here's a brief recap of what happened in After the War: Four years after Aizen ascended to the King's Realm and became the new Spirit King, the remnants of the Gotei 13, along with Ichigo and his friends, plan a counter offensive to retake Soul Society. Ichigo leads a small strike force into the heart of Seireitei and incites a rebellin that overthrows Aizen's puppet government. At the same time, the Shinigami forces in the real world repel an Arrancar Invasion of Tokyo. After Soul Society is reconquered, the Gotei 13 slowly rebuilds itself and begins preparations for an invasion of the King's Realm. During this period, Ichigo is tasked to infiltrate Hueco Mundo and retrieve the missing Urahara Kisuke. Upon doing so, he learns the real truth of what happened in the Winter War. A month later, Soul Society embarks upon a full scale invasion of the King's Realm. Ten divisions lay siege to the Royal Palace, and using a special siege engine, break through the walls. They eventually storm into the heart of the citadel, and after much fighting, Ichigo finaly reaches the throne room and confronts Aizen in a titanic battle. Ichigo manages to defeat Aizen and frees the real Spirit King in the process. His daughter, who turns out to be none other than Orihime, revives all of the dead people, before jumping into Soul Society. She restores the destroyed Karakura Town to normal, but dies in the process. Upon being reborn in her true form, the Spirit King's daughter recreates Orihime's original body before ascending to the King's Realm. With peace restored last, the the Gotei 13 return to Soul Society and in a lavish ceremony Ichigo and Rukia are married.

A Bleach Honeymoon begins two weeks after the wedding...

* * *

Chapter 1: Tokyo

"What we're going on a honeymoon to the real world?" Rukia asked in disbelief. She stared at Ichigo as he began cleaning up the pile of paperwork and other items lying around the fifth division office room.

"Why not? If we we're going to go on a holiday of a lifetime what better way to do it than to explore the wonders of the real world," Ichigo said. "I doubt there's any good places to visit in the Rukongai districts, the King's Realm is off limits and I doubt you'd want to go back to Hueco Mundo any time soon."

"Wait a minute, when did I say I wanted to go on a holiday of a lifetime? We've got way too many things to do to think about taking a break!" Rukia exclaimed. "The Commander needs your input on how to restructure Seireitei, our division is still recovering from the war, and we're going need to completely rebuild the Shiba family if we're to think about living there!"

"Whoa, whoa, calm down Rukia," Ichigo tried to lay his hands upon her shoulder, but Rukia slapped them away.

"Don't tell me to calm down! I've been calm for long enough. You're a captain now Ichigo. It's time you acted like one." Ichigo watched as Rukia stormed into the bedroom and slammed the doors shut. He was left standing in the division office, brooding about what to do. He looked up at the wall behind his desk, where a ying yang symbol hung above the number five.

"I should have known things wouldn't work out smoothly," Ichigo sighed. It had been only a few days since their wedding, and weeks since Aizen's death. Yet he had a feeling that the euphoria from the victory had already died down, and life Soul Society had once again become monotonous. He set down beside his desks and went through the pile of documents. Rukia had been right about the number of tasks he had to take care of. Only in the last few days he had replaced the division's insignia and drafted a new motto of the division, finally erasing all traces of Aizen Sousuke's legacy. The new draftees still had to be trained up to scratch. Finally, he had yet to make his opinion known to Commander Unohana about the planned revival of the Central 46.

Just as he was about to get to work, the front door to the office opened, and Minazawa, his 3rd seat, walked inside.

"Captain Kurosaki, the Commander needs to speak with you," Minazawa said.

"Tell her I'll come right away," Ichigo replied.

A while later, Ichigo arrived at the 1st division office. He knocked on the front door.

"Come in," he heard Unohana speak. Ichigo opened the door and walked in front of the desk. He gazed at the Commander, mindful of the vast gap in years and experience that lay between them.

"What is it you wanted to speak to me about, Commander?" Ichigo asked.

"Well, Captain Kurosaki, there is a special assignment that I want you and your lieutenant to take care of," Unohana replied. She handed him a brief of documents inscribed with the 2nd division logo.

"These reports are from Captain Soifon and Lieutenant Yoruichi. During the Heavenly War I sent them down to the real world to inspect the situation. As it turns out, the Arrancar attack upon Tokyo city has triggered a world wide conflict. The battles in the King's Realm have further disrupted the fragile balance between the dimensions. An unprecedented number of people have been able to see souls and hollows, and it's led to a mass panic of civilians."

"Are you expecting me to solve the problem?" Ichigo asked.

"Not exactly," she replied. "Ishida Uryu and his father, along with Urahara Kisuke, are already negotiating with the governments of the real world to calm the public. What I want you to do is to bring as many souls as you can back, and eliminate all the hollows." Ichigo balked at the enormity of the task, and the implications it would bring.

"I'd need to mobilize my entire division to accomplish that task," he said. Unohana stared for a while, before closing her eyes.

"That is not necessary. You and Lieutenant Kuchiki will be sufficient," she said. "Our main priority is to stabilize the real world and ensure that ordinary humans do not panic. An entire division of Shinigami would cause mass spiritual disruption."

"But then, if it's only me and Rukia, wouldn't take a lot of time? Aren't you drafting a planned revamp of the Central 46? And what about the recruits for the Shinigami Academy? I promised to look after them!"

"Settle down, Captain Kurosaki," Unohana said. "You do not have to worry about so many things at once. The restructuring of Seireitei can be put on hold for now. Soul Society has coped with the current state of government quite well. I'm sure it can hold like this for a while longer. As for the Shinigami Academy, one of the other divisions is taking care of it. The reason I chose you and Lieutenant Kuchiki for this mission is because the two of you have the most experience at blending in with normal humans."

"That isn't true!" Ichigo protested. "Kensei, Love, Rose, heck even my father have way more experience with real world affairs. Why didn't you ask them?"

"I did ask them. They've also been sent to the real world, but as diplomats and public figures. Due to the increase in spiritual activity, it would be dangerous for them to seen as Shinigami out in the public. You and Lieutenant Kuchiki on the other hand, are relatively unknown people, so being seen by humans will not cause a general panic," Unohana paused for a moment, wanting to let all the information sink in. Then she smiled. "Besides, I've heard that you wanted to go on a honeymoon?" Ichigo froze in shock. _How did she know?_ He stopped thinking when he realized that how easy it was for rumours to spread.

"I was planning to go, but Rukia said there wasn't time to do so," Ichigo said.

"Well, then I suppose you can tell her you've found the perfect excuse," Unohana smiled. "The two of you can travel the world on your honeymoon whilst performing your duties as Shinigami at the same time."

"Thank you, Commander," Ichigo bowed his head. Unohana smiled as he walked out of the office.

Rukia opened her eyes when she heard the front door of the division office opened and shut. She hastily put on a white hakama just as Ichigo walked into the bedroom.

"Rukia, I've got some good news," Ichigo said with a smile on his face. "We've been given permission to go on our honeymoon."

"What?" Rukia asked in shock. "What happened Ichigo? Tell me everything!" After Ichigo repeated what Commander Unohana had said to him, Rukia was struggling to comprehend it all.

"So, we've been ordered to travel around the world, eliminating hollows and sending as many wholes as possible to Soul Society? Why did the commander throw such a difficult task upon us?"

"I think it's because both of us, me especially, have extensive knowledge of the real world, without being famous or well known. My father, Urahara-san and the Vizards have all lived in the real world for decades, so they've interacted with a lot of high profile people in the real world. With the increased spiritual activity, it would be dangerous for them to become Shinigami and risk average humans finding out about Soul Society. If word breaks out, it could cause mass panic around the world," Ichigo explained.

"I'm still sceptical about all of this. It sounds like an excuse for us to have this honeymoon you've been talking about," Rukia said with a leer.

"Oh come on, you really think I'd ask Unohana for permission to go on a honeymoon?" Ichigo laughed. "I'm not that self-centred. I too shared the same doubts as you do about the whole mission. In fact, Unohana herself practically begged me to do it, which is why she enticed with the offer of taking an extended holiday."

"I see, so that's what happened between the two of you," Rukia grinned. _I knew it, he made a deal behind my back!_ She thought to herself.

"Are you satisfied now Rukia?" Ichigo was desperate to get a response.

"Not really. Just how are we going to get to the real world in the first? Let alone have the ability to travel around the world?" she asked.

"I'll talk to my father or Urahara-san about it," Ichigo replied. "I'm pretty sure my real body is still intact even if it's badly burnt. Urahara could turn it into a gigai. Likewise your gigai shouldn't have been damaged that badly."

"What about our mod souls? Surely you know where they've gone to."

"Well, Kon's running around the Seireitei somewhere, likely searching for you. And I think Urahara still has spare Chappy Gikongan that he can give you." Rukia paused for a moment, trying to take in all of the information. She was deeply impressed about how much knowledge Ichigo had acquired, and she knew that he was far more qualified with real world matters than she was.

"Alright Ichigo, I'll leave most of the preparations to you then," she said. "I'll speak to Renji and the others and see if they can set up communications and portals for the destinations we'll be visiting."

"That'd be great Rukia. You go do that," Ichigo said. `

Two days later, Ichigo and Rukia stood in front of the main Seireimon gate, along with the entire fifth division. Commander Unohana and three other captains, Byakuya, Renji and Isshin, were also there to see them off.

"Do you know what to do once you get to the real world?" Unohana asked him.

"Yes," Ichigo nodded. "My division will secure the Tokyo area and then Rukia and I will proceed to the objectives listed in our Soul Pager."

"Alright, I'll give the orders to open the Seireimon. Once your division has settled down, contact us straight away and I'll arrange other captains to assist you to travel to other destinations," Unohana asked. She motioned the first division Shinigami who were guarding the Seireimon to unlock the seals. Ichigo turned around and faced his men.

"Listen up guys! After we go across to the other side, quickly spread out and proceed to the positions that Lieutenant Kuchiki has given you. Eliminate any hollows in you immediate vicinity and then wait for further instructions." His troops nodded. The Seireimon was completely lit up, and upon Unohana's signal, Ichigo, Rukia and their division advanced through the gates.

After everyone had gone through, the four captains watched as the gate was slowly shut. Commander Unohana proceeded to return to the division headquarters, but Byakuya, Renji and Isshin stayed behind.

"Hey Isshin-san, how are Ichigo and Rukia going to cope with travel expenses?" Renji asked. "We're asking them to make a round the world trip aren't we?" Byakuya and Isshin stared at him with bemused expressions.

"Have you forgotten what I told you when you were serving under me already, Renji?" Byakuya responded. "The Seireimon network is linked to spirit gates across the world. If Ichigo and Rukia need to use it, then can request access through the soul pager."

"Even if they don't use the soul gates, I'm sure those two will know how to travel by mundane forms of transport," Isshin smiled.

Ichigo and Rukia jumped through the other side of the Seireimon and found themselves floating above the Shibuya ward of Tokyo city.

"Ah, this part of Tokyo is different to the one we stayed in before," Rukia observed. ""It's Shibuya, the hippest district of Tokyo," Ichigo replied. "Beats me why we ended up here when our old base was in Shinjuku. But, I suppose we could get some shopping done." He grinned as he landed in the middle of a busy intersection. As he looked around, he noticed a large number of spirits intermingling with normal humans. Most still had their bodies intact, but a few others had already begun to degenerate into Jibaku spirits.

"Unohana was right, this place has become even worse than before," Ichigo said, taking out his sword. Rukia nodded, also drawing out her sword.

"It seems the Arrancar invasion caused a massive concentration of spirit particles within the Jureichi," she said.

"Whatever, let's just get down to work," Ichigo said. He watched as members of the 5th division quickly Shunpo-ed off towards other parts of the city. Rukia tracked their reiatsu signals on her soul pager, before she followed Ichigo across a major road.

They came across a middle-aged businessman in a blue suit, hugging a terrified woman wearing a pink blazer and skirt. Both of them looked like normal humans except for the severed chains that were attached to their chests.

"These two seem to have died recently," Ichigo commented. "It shouldn't be too hard to perform Konso." Rukia nodded, holding her Zanpakto by the hilt over the head. This caused the couple to freak out.

"Are you going to kill us?" the man asked in fright.

"We are not going to hurt you," Rukia replied. "We're going to send you to the Soul Society. It's a much better place for you to be in than staying in this world." The man was still utterly terrified of Ichigo and Rukia, but the woman was more rational and understood Rukia's words. She calmly allowed Rukia to place her hilt over her forehead, marking her with a seal. A second later the woman's spiritual body disappeared through a portal in the ground.

"I'll deal with this one," Ichigo said, calmly restraining the man. He then placed his hilt over the man's forehead, sending him through the portal.

"Alright, that's the first two done," Ichigo said. He and Rukia proceeded through the streets and sent as many spirits as possible to the Soul Society. As they were doing so, Rukia kept track of the other members of the division through the soul pager. Though they encountered a lot of harmless souls and tame Jibakus, not once did they deal with even a low level hollow.

"This is strange. For such a densely packed physical and spiritual area, it's surprising there aren't any hollows around," Rukia said.

"Yeah it's weird. Unless something managed to drive them away it's doubtful that all of the hollows disappeared by themselves," Ichigo said. Just then, they felt a sudden spike in reiatsu nearby.

"This spiritual pressure, where is it coming from?" Ichigo wondered.

"Ichigo, Minazawa's soul pager is beeping!" Rukia exclaimed. She clicked on her soul pager, causing the 3rd Seat's face to appear.

"Captain Kurosaki, Lieutenant Kuchiki! I'm in the Ota Ward of Tokyo. A massive spiritual entity just showed up and its attacking everyone!"

"Hold on Minazawa! We're coming now!" Ichigo shouted. He and Rukia jumped in the air and started Shunpo-ing to the south.

"Rukia, can you tell the others to converge on Minazawa's location?" Ichigo asked.

"I can, but we need to stop for a brief moment," Rukia replied. She took out an ink pad from her hakama, and dipped her fingers in it. Putting the pad back, she then wiped the ink her forearms and then thrust her arms in front of her.

"Black and white net! 22nd bridge, 66th crown and cincture, footprints, distant thunder, sharp arrow, rotating land, cover of night, sea of clouds, pale soldiery, fill the great circle and charge the heavens! Bakudo 77, Tentei Kura!" she shouted. Rukia felt her consciousness expand and reach out into the minds of the one hundred and ninety seven other Shinigami of the fifth division. _I did it!_ She thought to her herself.

"This is Lieutenant Kuchiki speaking. All members of the 5th division are to head for the Ota Ward of Tokyo immediately. 3rd Seat Minazawa has encountered a strong spiritual entity and requires our assistance. Captain Kurosaki and I are heading there right now." With that, Rukia ended the Kidou.

"Did you get through to everyone?" Ichigo asked. Rukia nodded. Without a second's delay, the two of them Shunpo-ed across the city. Within minutes they arrived in Ota Ward and immediately began searching for Minazawa's reiatsu signature. They found him near the harbour side, overlooking the entrance to Tokyo airport.

"Captain!" Minazawa exclaimed. "Thank goodness you've come."

"What's the matter Minazawa? What is the spiritual entity you're talking about?" Ichigo asked. Minazawa pointed to a cluster of buildings to the northwest. As Ichigo and Rukia turned to look, they froze in shock. A humongous, green coloured creature was rampaging through the streets, spewing out blasts of fire down at the ground. It was nearly three hundred feet tall, and resembled and overgrown lizard, or a dinosaur.

"What the heck is that?" Rukia asked.

"I know what that is," Ichigo said in a sombre voice. "I've seen it in a few movies I watched when I was a child, but I never imagined that it would become reality. This creature is Godzilla, a legendary Kaiju that was a product of the atomic weapons that were dropped on Japan in the mid twentieth century."

"Are you saying this creature was meant to be fictional?" Rukia couldn't believe it.

"Well, that's what I always assumed. I have no idea what this version is though. It reeks of hollow reiatsu. Could be a menos of some sort." Ichigo, Rukia and Minazawa scampered through the streets to get closer up to the monster and observed it closely. They soon realized that it could be seen by both normal humans and spirits.

"The humans can see it as well!" Minazawa exclaimed.

"How is that possible? Hollows can't take physical form, and only spiritually aware humans can see them," Rukia said.

"It could be that all of the humans in the area have become spiritually sensitive, or this creature is actually made of physical flesh. Either way we can't waste time taking it down," Ichigo said. In a flash, he jumped towards the creature and sliced off its left arm. Without pause, he turned in midair and sliced right through its centre, cutting it in half. He landed near Rukia and Minazawa again and sheathed his sword.

"Wow, Captain Kurosaki, you are amazing as always," Minazawa heaped praise upon him. Ichigo thanked him for his compliment.

"Ichigo, look!" Rukia exclaimed. Ichigo turned around and saw the creature had pulled itself together and regenerated its arm.

"Instant regeneration," Ichigo said. "Looks like this is going to be trouble."

"Let me try fighting it," Rukia said. "Dance, Sode no Shirayuki!" She released her Zanpakto and instantly got into a fighting stance.

"Second Dance, Hakuren!" She fired a powerful blast of ice that covered the entire creature from head to toe. Sealing her sword again, Rukia watched and waited to see what happened. The block of ice held for several seconds before shattering apart, the giant lizard emerging with a roar. It fired a blast of scorching hot flame at them. Ichigo, Rukia and Minazawa Shunpo-ed to the side. Just at they did so, they were surrounded by other members of the division.

"Everyone is present and accounted for," Mariko, the 4th seat, reported.

"What is that thing, captain!" the division's 5th seat Tanaka asked.

"It's some sort of menos, although it appears that normal humans can see it," Minazawa replied.

"I have come up with a plan to deal with it," Ichigo said. "Rukia, tell the others to form of a cordon around the lizard. Have the Kidou users place a spatial freeze of radius two hundred yards around it and myself. Then erect barriers to completely surround both of us. That way, I can fight it without holding back."

"Understood, Ichigo," Rukia nodded. She ordered the Kidou squads to form a circle around the lizard as Ichigo Shunpo-ed in front of it.

"Come on, big guy, bring it on," Ichigo smirked. Without speaking the command, he released Zangetsu and held it above his head just as the lizard fired another blast of fire at him. The blast hit the blunt edge of the blade, and was slowly repulsed back. Around him, yellow barriers rose up from the ground and surrounded the vicinity. Each of the barriers was over four hundred feet high. Finally, a roof covered the top of the barriers, creating a completely enclosed circle.

"At last, I can fight without holding back," Ichigo said. He charged spirit energy in his sword and released it in a gigantic Getsuga Tensho that cleaved the lizard from head to toe. To his surprise, the Godzilla-like Menos started regenerating and soon it was completely back to normal.

"Tch, I can't believe I have to use Bankai on this thing," Ichigo muttered. He threw off his haori and placed his Zanpakto in front of his body. "Bankai!" A black column of reiatsu shot up and surrounded him for a few seconds. When it dissipated, he was dressed in a long flowing black coat. In response, the lizard hollow charged a cero in its mouth. Ichigo waited for it to finish charging, whispering the words "Tengetsu Gaieshi" under his breath. The creature fired its cero, completely covering Ichigo.

"Oh no, captain's in trouble!" Tanaka exclaimed. He was about to rush in when Rukia grabbed his hand.

"It's nothing to worry about," she said. The monster continued to fire the cero for several minutes and then it stopped. From out of the smoke, Ichigo emerged completely unscathed, a sphere of reiatsu surrounding his body.

"I take it that was the best you had," he said. "Well then, time to finish it." He charged the spirit energy in his blade to maximum power and then struck at the lizards' soul chain.

"Chouseki Hadou," he said, releasing all of the built up of energy in an enormous column-like blast that completely disintegrated the creature. Afterwards, he returned his Zanpakto to its sealed state and retrieved his haori, just as Rukia ordered the Kidou users to lower the barrier.

"You were awesome captain!" several 5th division members came up to Ichigo.

"I was just doing my job," Ichigo said. He looked at Rukia, who was smiling at him. He waited until all members of his division assembled in front of him.

"Good work guys, we've pretty much cleared out this area. However, there is still a lot more work to be done before Tokyo is pacified," Ichigo addressed his troops. "Lieutenant Kuchiki and I do not have the time to stay around here, so until we get back, I assign all of you to remain on patrol throughout the entire city."

"What, we have to remain here?" Tanaka asked. "But I've never been to the real world before. How do we blend in?" He was shoved in the shoulder by Minazawa.

"Ahem, before we came here, all of you should have been given a Gikongan and a gigai, along with a sufficient amount of real world money to last for up to three weeks," Rukia explained. "Consider this assignment as part of your training on how to survive in the real world. Your task is to monitor the souls in the Tokyo area, eliminate all surviving hollows and blend in with the local humans. If you require assistance, contact us on our soul pagers and we will try to request the central command to send aid to you."

"Yes captain!" the 5th division Shinigami all nodded. At Ichigo's signal, they split off into groups and Shunpo-ed in different directions.

"Alright, it's just the two of us now," Rukia said. "Let's start our mission." She immediately got out a capsule from her hakama and pressed on it. Out popped a gigai replica of her body. Rukia picked it up and entered it. A moment later, she awoke inside the gigai.

"What are you waiting for Ichigo? Get in your gigai!" Rukia yelled at him.

"Just a minute, I don't have experience with gigais," Ichigo responded nervously. He opened his capsule and flinched when he saw a replica of his body staring back at him.

"Don't tell you're afraid of your own body Ichigo," Rukia said in a mocking voice.

"I'm not. It's just the first time I've seen myself looking at a gigai rather than my original body," Ichigo tried to act cool. In reality, he was sweating all over. _Here goes nothing!_ He merged his spirit with the gigai, and immediately lost consciousness. It took a hard kick from Rukia to shock him awake again.

"How does it feel to be in a gigai Ichigo?" Rukia laughed.

"It feels weird," Ichigo said, rubbing the bruise she had given him. He got on his feet and pulled out and was about to pull something from his wallet and when a voice came from behind them.

"It's been a while. How's it going?" Ichigo heard someone ask. He and Rukia turned around and froze in shock. It was Yasutora Sado, clad in a red shirt and white jeans.

"Chad! What are you doing here?" Ichigo asked.

"I'm on my way to the airport," Sado replied. "To visit my relatives in Okinawa."

"Oh, how lovely! Can we come along?" Rukia asked. Sado shrugged his head.

"Sure why not?"

"Hey, I thought you wanted to proceed with the mission," Ichigo said to Rukia.

"I changed my mind. I want to go on a honeymoon as you planned," Rukia smiled.

* * *

At last, after two months of procrastination, I finally decided to begin writing the sequel to After the War. This time, it's going to be much shorter in length and is likely going to be followed by two further stories that take place in the same post AW timeline. For those who haven't read After the War, I'll briefly explain what's happened to the characters mentioned in this chapter.

Ichigo: As the hero of the Heavenly War, he was promoted as Captain of the 5th division. He's massively increased in power and now has two new abilities: Chouseki Hadou (Tidal Surge in Japanese), an energy attack more powerful than Getsuga Tensho and Tengetsu Gaieshi (Heavenly Moon Reflection), his Bankai's special power, which allows him to predict and dodge enemy attacks and surround himself with a powerful barrier than protects him from all damage.

Rukia: Apart from being married to the Kurosaki Family, she has also been promoted to the Lieutenant of the 5th division.

Renji: He has been promoted to the Captain of the 8th division, replacing the deceased Kyoraku.

Chad: He was initially the slave of Aizen, but was later freed by Ichigo. Because of the flare-up of his inner hollow, he's now been put on close watch by Soul Society.

Isshin: He has returned to being a Shinigami and assumed his original name, Shiba Isshin. He's now the the Captain of the 13th division, replacing the deceased Ukitake.

Yoruichi: She has returned to the 2nd division and now serves as Soifon's Lieutenant.

Unohana: She is now the Captain Commander, replacing the deceases Yamamoto.

Taneko Minazawa: He's an OC I created in After the War, and his the 3rd Seat of the 5th division.

Mariko and Tanaka: They are the 4th and 5th seats of the 5th division respectively. Like Minazawa, they're OCs I created in After the War.

* * *

I hope you all enjoy this story as much as you enjoyed After the War. I'd love to hear your reviews and thoughts about it.


	2. Chapter 2: Okinawa

Bleach Fanstory: A Bleached Honeymoon

By Michael Xu

Bleach and its characters are trademarks of Kubo Tite and Shuesha. I don't hold any claim on it apart from the OCs I create

Summary: With Aizen finally defeated, peace is restored to Soul Society. But the major rebuilding has just begun. Two weeks after their wedding, Ichigo and Rukia are sent on an assignment to clean up outbreaks of hollow activity around the world. Ichigo uses the assignment as an excuse to go on a honeymoon, but as his hopes of an easy mission are dashed as a giant lizard-like hollow shows up in the centre of Tokyo. Ichigo and Rukia dispose of the threat, but draw the attention of Sado Yasutora, who invites them to come with him to visit his relatives in Okinawa...

* * *

Chapter 2: Okinawa

Ichigo and Rukia stood behind Sado as they waited to board a Japan Airlines flight to Okinawa. They were part of a queue of about four hundred or so passengers who were also boarding the flight. All of them had gathered at the south wing of Terminal one, inside Haneda International Airport, the main domestic airport for Tokyo. Ichigo had flown to several parts of Japan with his family before, so he was no stranger to airport procedures. Likewise, Sado had travelled overseas to Mexico a few times. Rukia however, was totally clueless about everything. Ichigo was amazed that they were even able to make it through the checkout counter, as Rukia almost forgot about her passport and travel documents. He glanced at Rukia again, and had a slight smirk when he saw her dressed in a red yukata covered by a black goth-like jacket.

"What are you laughing about?" Rukia stared at Ichigo.

"I'm just a bit worried about your clothing," Ichigo replied. "It already seems kind of strange here in Tokyo, but once we get to Okinawa it's going to look totally out of place."

"So? This was the best I could come up with! These are some Yuzu and Karin's clothes! What about you? You don't look so flash either." Ichigo looked at Sado, who shrugged his shoulders. The two of them were wearing loose shirts and pants. Ichigo had a white shirt with orange dots one it, whilst Sado wore a red and yellow shirt.

Just then, the stewards at the counter opened the doors to the walkway and started allowing passengers through. Ichigo and Sado had their passports out, but Rukia was slow to do so.

"Rukia, take out your passport," Ichigo whispered. Rukia was confused for a moment, but followed Ichigo's advice and grabbed hers from her black handbag. After getting through the clearance without trouble, Ichigo, Rukia and Sado walked down the walkway and entered the doors of the plane.

"Wow, this is amazing. I never knew a plane was so big," Rukia said as she stood in between the airplane's doors.

"Save your gawking for later," Ichigo said to her. "We need to find our seats first." Rukia followed Ichigo and Sado down the aisles of the economy section. Their seats were halfway towards the rear of the plane, with Ichigo and Rukia sharing two seats near the window and Sado sitting right behind them.

"Can I get the window seat?" Rukia asked excitedly.

"Sure," Ichigo said. He got out an ipod, headphones and a DS from his travel bag and then placed the bag up into the storage doors before sitting down his seat. Rukia jumped into her seat and started searching through her handbag and back pack. She took out her soul pager, a rabbit plush doll, a make-up kit and a notebook. Ichigo initially wanted to say something about her choice of carry-on items but decided not to. Twenty minutes after they had boarded the plane, the doors were closed and the engines started firing up. The plane gradually trundled away from the terminal. Once it got onto the runway, it paused for a few minutes, before the inevitable take off began. Rukia screamed in fright as she felt the plane lift off from the ground and rapidly ascend into the skies.

"Oh my god! This is too much for me!" She yelled out. "I'm shaking all over."

"Relax. This is normal for a take off. We'll stabilize soon enough," Ichigo said. He put on his headphones and shut his eyes.

Roughly four hours later, the Boeing 747 touched down on the runway at Naha, the capital of Okinawa. After going through customs without a hitch, Ichigo, Rukia and Sado walked into the arrivals lounge and waited for their luggage. Sado only had one medium sized suitcase, but Rukia had brought along a monstrous suitcase that Ichigo could barely lift. It took both Ichigo and Sado to haul it onto a trolley.

"Geezus, what did you pack into that bag Rukia?" Ichigo asked, rubbing his sore hands. "We're only going to staying for two days here at most."

"Oh, I thought we were going on a round the world honeymoon. Surely we need enough clothes to last us for the duration of the trip," Rukia replied in a smug fashion.

"Damn," Ichigo muttered. _Well, at least we're well prepared._ He flicked through his wallet and was relieved that the one hundred thousand yen his father had given him was still present. Upon exiting the terminal, the three of them were greeted by a large black hummer, decked out in red flares. The sound of its engines was deafening and Ichigo and Rukia could both hear weird music coming from it. A moment later, the doors of the hummer opened and out stepped several people. One was a grey-haired man clearly in his late sixties; another was a young man who looked almost like Sado except with white skin. A third was a grey-haired old woman, accompanied by a petite young girl with pig tails.

"Long time no see, Chad," the young man took off his sunglasses and shook Sado's hand, before offering to take the luggage into the back.

"Who are these people?" Ichigo asked.

"They're my relatives," Sado replied. "The guy who looks like me is my cousin, Sado Shinobu. You can call him Shin. The old couple is my grandparents, and the girl is my other cousin, Selena."

"My dear Sado, who are these two people standing alongside you?" Sado's grandfather asked.

"They're my old school mates," Sado introduced Ichigo and Rukia. "The guy with the orange hair is Kurosaki Ichigo and the girl standing beside him is Kuchiki Rukia. The two of them were just married and now they're on their honeymoon."

"Oh how sweet!" Sado's cousin Selena exclaimed in delight. "How long have you been living together?"

"Um, about five years or so," Rukia gave a slight laugh.

"We can chat later once we've taken you back to our home," Shin said as he finished loading the luggage. "You two lovebirds are going to love Okinawa." Ichigo and Rukia squeezed into the hummer as Shin took the wheels. They sped off from the airport and drove along a highway into the central business district.

"This place feels a lot smaller than Tokyo," Rukia said to Shin.

"Of course it is. Naha's only a small island town," Shin laughed. "Everything's close to each other. It won't be long before we get to our house." After taking a left turn from the highway and down into some side streets, the hummer stopped in front of a medium sized weatherboard house. Ichigo stepped out and admired the front of the house before he followed Sado's cousin and grandparents through the door. The inside of the house exuded a seaside feel, with all of the walls painted white and cream. A small kitchen adjoined a combined family room and dining room area, whilst upstairs there were four reasonably sized bedrooms. Shin offered to carry Ichigo and Rukia's luggage to their rooms but Ichigo insisted he do it by himself. Once that was done, Ichigo and Rukia sat on a couch beside Sado's grandparents.

"So then, tell me something about yourself, Kurosaki-san," Sado's grandfather said as he sipped from a cup of tea.

"Um, well, I grew up near Tokyo, in one of the outer wards," Ichigo tried to lie. "My mum died when I was nine, and I lived with my father and two sisters until I graduated from college."

"Your mother passed away? That's certainly interesting," Sado's grandmother smiled. "What about you, Kuchiki-san?" Rukia hesitated in responding. Ichigo looked away, and mentally told her to repeat the made-up story they had both agreed upon.

"Oh, I'm the younger sister of head of Sakura Corporation, Kuchiki Byakuya," Rukia gave a pretend smile. "Both our parents died when I was little, so my brother raised me by himself." Sado's grandparents were intrigued by their stories.

"It seems the two of you have both had your share of tragic life experiences," Sado's grandfather said. "Just like Sado. He may have not said much about it to you, but I suppose it would be good to tell you."

"Ojii-san…" Sado tried to interrupt, but decided to keep quiet.

"Where shall I begin? Well, I guess the cause of all the trouble in our family would have to be my son, Sado Kazuya. He and I did not get along well, and shortly before he turned 18 he mysteriously left the country. He came back a few years later with a young Mexican woman by the name of Gloria de la Rosa. The two of them wanted to marry, but I was reluctant to give them permission. My suspicions were correct, when, shortly after their wedding, Kazuya raped Gloria. Shortly afterwards, Kazuya disappeared, whilst Gloria gave birth to a son, who she named Sado. Gloria returned to Mexico along with Sado, and I never heard from her again for years. I later found out she had died soon after returning and Sado had been raised by her father, Oscar Joaquin de la Rosa. After he died, I arranged for Sado to study at a high school in Tokyo." After Sado's grandfather finished, the whole room was silent for a moment.

"I see, so that explains a lot of the mysteries about Chad's past," Ichigo said. "I was always confused about Chad looking like a Mexican, despite being born in Okinawa and having a Japanese name. And you said his father disappeared. Is there any chance he's still alive?" At this point, Shin shrugged his shoulders.

"I dunno. My dad claimed he saw him several times, hanging out with a bunch of Yakuzas, but then again he and Kaz were never really close to begin with," Shin said. Again, the room fell silent. It was clear that they had touched upon some unsettling family history.

"Why don't we go and take a tour of the city?" Sado asked. "I'm sure you and Rukia want to see the surroundings, Ichigo." Ichigo and Rukia nodded, so a few minutes later, the three of them got back in the hummer, and Shin drove them around Naha. They toured the shopping district for several hours, with Rukia spending what seemed like an obscene amount of yen on clothing, make-up and jewellery, before they headed to the beach. Though the beach was small, it was quite lively and well maintained. The water was crystal blue, but Ichigo couldn't see the views of the wider bay due to a bridge that ran across the harbour.

"It's a shame we forgot to bring our bathers along," Ichigo said.

"What are you talking about? I don't know how to swim!" Rukia exclaimed. This prompted a fit of laughter from Ichigo. They spent a fair amount of time walking on the sand and splashing their feet into the water, before returning to the hummer and heading back home. As they got to the front entrance however, Shin and Sado noticed something was amiss. A white car, resembling a Mercedes or a BMW, was parked beside the kerb, and the front door of the house had been broken into. Worse was to come when the four of them entered the living room and found Sado's grandparents lying unconscious on the couch.

"Ojiisan! Obaasan!" Sado yelled out. He shook both of them gently to see if they could wake up. Rukia bent down and touched their necks.

"They're still alive, but their breathing is a tad shallow," she said as she examined them. "There's bruises on their elbows, thighs and forehead."

"Who could have done this?" Shin asked, visibly shaking all over. Just then, a scream came upstairs. Sado, Ichigo and Rukia rushed up the stairs and stormed into Selena's bedroom. They found her held by her throat several feet off the ground. Her assailant was a strongly built man, as large or even larger than Sado.

"Put her down!" Sado shouted. "What right have you to come in here and viciously assault such innocent people?" Ichigo and Rukia were a tad surprised by Sado's demeanour. His efforts however, elicited a mocking laugh from the stranger.

"That's a curious thing to say to me, Yasutora-kun," the man said in a patronising voice. "What right have you to order your father around?" In an instant, the man looked at them, and the three of them were utterly shocked. Sado by the reappearance of his long-lost father, Ichigo and Rukia by how their unmistakable resemblance.

"Otoo-san?" Sado asked, shaking in disbelief. His father, Kazuya, dropped an unconscious Selena onto her bed and glared at Sado.

"What's the matter? Are you surprised to see your father?" he asked. Just then, Sado's reiatsu rose rapidly.

"You're…not my father. I don't acknowledge you as my father! Not after what you did to okaa-san!" Sado shouted. He charged at his father and slammed him through the window.

"Chad, wait!" Ichigo tried running after him, but he was stopped by Rukia.

"You go ahead Ichigo. I need to heal his family's injuries," Rukia said. Ichigo nodded. He grabbed Kon from his pocket and swallowed him, just as Rukia swallowed Chappy. The two mod souls squirmed, still unused to being in a gigai after months in Gikongan form.

"Kon, take care of Chappy and Sado's family," Ichigo said, as he jumped through the window. Kon blinked a few times as he watched Rukia apply healing power to Selena.

"Sado's family? What's going on here?" Kon asked.

Ichigo Shunpo-ed down a quiet street, tracking Sado's reiatsu closely. He finally found him just around a corner, punching his father in the face. After dozens of punches, Sado finally let go of his father and left him lying bloodied on the ground.

"Are you alright Chad?" Ichigo asked. Sado nodded but didn't speak. Ichigo looked down at his father and felt sick inside; Sado Kazuya's face had been almost completely mashed in. Ichigo wondered with Sado still retained his inner violent rage.

"What are you going to do with him? If you leave him here there's a chance you might be arrested by the police."

"Not a chance," Sado replied. "I'll take him to the police and turn him in." _Well, it looks like Sado still has his self-restraint,_ Ichigo thought. He considered going back and getting his gigai, when all of a sudden he felt a strange reiatsu coming from his father.

"What are you talking about, Yasutora-kun?" Kazuya asked. "Who is this orange haired person with the black and white robes standing beside you?" At this point, both Ichigo and Sado flinched back in shock; his father was capable of seeing spirits. Seemingly unaffected by his injuries, Kazuya got up and started laughing.

"You've gotten stronger, Yasutora-kun, but you're a long way from matching my strength!" Kazuya exclaimed. A split second later, Sado was punched in the face and sent flying dozens of feet back. He crashed into a telephone pole, bringing it and the nearby powerlines down.

"Something's wrong here," Ichigo said to himself. "There's no way a normal human could have this much physical strength. Sado's father must possess spiritual powers as well…" He looked at Sado again, and was horrified to see blood dripping down his forehead and nose. Though the punch had been quite powerful, Ichigo didn't think it would have done that much damage. As Sado struggled to get up, Ichigo suddenly realized something. _Crap! I forgot about Sado's spiritual powers being sealed! Now he's nothing more than an ordinary human who can see spirits!_

"What's the matter, son? Can't get up after just one punch?" Kazuya asked as his walked up to Sado. "Pathetic!" He kicked him hard in the stomach, causing Sado to spew blood from his mouth. He fell to the ground again, as his father kicked him in the leg several times. Ichigo couldn't stand by and watch any longer. He was about to reach for his sword, when he saw Sado getting up again.

"That's enough Chad! Let me deal with him!" Ichigo called out.

"No!" Sado yelled back. "This is my fight. I have to pay him back for what he did to my mother!" Ichigo gnashed his teeth in frustration.

"Damn it, why does he refuse to let me help him?" he asked himself.

"It's because he doesn't want our help," Rukia said, taking Ichigo by surprise.

"Rukia, how is everyone back there?' Ichigo asked.

"They're fine. I healed their injuries and told Shin to take care of them," Rukia replied. "More importantly though, we can't afford to help out Sado just yet."

"Why not? Sado and I swore to help each other and we're in trouble."

"I guess this is one of the situations that Ukitake taught me about: a fight for one's honour. If we aid him now, there's no doubt we could save his life, but his honour and self-esteem would be completely ruined. Don't forget, you faced a similar situation to him years before."

"You're right," Ichigo sighed. "It's just like that time with the Grand Fisher. But there's one important difference; I wasn't held back by something, but Sado is. His hollow powers were sealed by Tessai as a request from Commander Unohana, so right now he's as strong as he was when you first met him."

"What? His powers were sealed?" Rukia asked in shock. "Well then that changes things. I don't think we can help him fight directly, but I might be able to undo the seal."

"Are you sure? The seal Tessai used was a level 92 Bakudo, Naiteki Yokusei, or something like that. It had one of the most complex Kidou chants I've ever heard in my life." Rukia's eyes widened when she heard Ichigo mention that name.

"I know that spell. Nii-sama taught it to me just before we went into exile four years ago. He said I could use it in case your inner hollow got out of control again. But even he said he couldn't use to properly without saying the complete chant. I'm not sure if I can pull it off, but I'll try to."

"You'd better hurry then. Sado won't last much longer at this rate," Ichigo said. He watched on as Sado's father brutally assaulted, smashing his face in and pulverizing his chest and stomach. Eventually Sado was king hit to the ground and only avoided smashing his head in by digging his elbows at the last moment. Kazuya towered over his son, an evil grin etched across his face.

"I can't stand the sight of you any longer, useless child of mine," Kazuya reached into his shirt pocket. "I'll shred you into pieces with this!" Ichigo's eyes widened when he saw Sado's father pull out a four foot-long machete-like blade with ragged edges.

_This isn't good. Sado's going to die if I don't intervene!_ He thought to himself.

"Rukia, are you able to cast the spell yet?" he asked as he unsheathed his sword.

"I've finished charging the spirit energy, but I need to be up close to Sado in order to perform it," Rukia replied.

"Well then, I'll give you the opportunity to do so." Ichigo waited until Kazuya was about to bring his blade down upon Sado's head before he Shunpo-ed in and blocked it with his sword.

"What the hell?" Kazuya asked in disbelief. "Where did you come from?" He gripped the blade with both hands and tried pushing down with all of his might, but Ichigo didn't even budge a muscle. "Urgh, what is this strength? You can't possibly be human!"

"Physical strength matters little to a spirit," Ichigo smiled. Out of the corner of his eye and he saw Rukia kneel beside Sado. She placed her hands upon his soul chain and soul booster.

"This might hurt a bit Chad, but please bear with me," Rukia said. "I'm going to undo the restraints upon your powers." Sado grunted in response. Rukia gathered spirit energy into her hands and began the incantation.

"Ego of the world, that which separates the unconscious from the mind, reveal to me your darkest secrets! Pierce through the void surrounding the body of the soul and unleash the id within! Bakudo 92, Naiteki Yokusei!" Rukia yelled out. From her hands, a bright green circle shot out and engraved itself on Sado's chest. The circle was etched with a number of runic symbols that began to light up. Once all of the symbols were lit, Rukia backed away and watched as Sado's body surged with power. Kazuya stared blankly, unable to comprehend what he was seeing.

"If you were a hollow, I'd gladly kill you, but I think it's more appropriate for Chad to deal with you by himself," Ichigo said bluntly. He Shunpo-ed beside Rukia, as the two of the watched Sado get up. With his body surrounded by reiatsu, Sado summoned his right armoured arm. Without a moment's hesitation, he grabbed his father by the neck and then punched him dozens of yards down an adjacent street. Kazuya slammed his head against the bitumen before sliding several more feet along the ground. At this point, Ichigo wondered if Sado's father was even alive. He and Rukia went with Sado to inspect his body.

"His entire face has caved in," Rukia said as she examined Kazuya. "And his skull appears to have suffered major stress fractures. It's unlikely he could have survived."

"I guess we need to some cleaning up then," Ichigo said. He and Rukia began preparations to stabilize the surrounding area, when they felt a sudden of reiatsu. To their utter surprise, Kazuya's body was moving. He staggered to his feet again. Clutching his mutilated face, he let out a horrific, almost monster like, laugh.

"What's going on? That sounded like a hollow's screech," Rukia said. The three of them gasped when Kazuya seemingly ripped off his entire face and then proceeded to tear his head in half. From out of a mass of gore and blood emerged a sinister mask like face.

"Aaah, it's been a long time since I resumed my true form," the masked being said. "Being inside a human body has dulled my senses. It feels so good being back again!" With one great screech, the being blasted Kazuya's body apart, sending a shower of blood and gibs splattering across the area. As it finished stretching, Ichigo observed its appearance closely. It was a robustly built creature, covered with yellowish fur. Its hands and feet were full of razor sharp claws, whilst its mask resembled a bull's, with two giant horns growing from its forehead.

"What, what have you done to my father," Sado asked.

"Your father?" the hollow creature smirked. "He was dead before you were even born! I possessed his body and devoured him from the inside, and then I ravaged his woman!!" Sado froze in shock, unable to comprehend what he had heard.

"No, no, this can't be…this can't be possible…" Sado stuttered. "Does that mean the hollow that is inside me came from you?"

"Exactly!" the hollow laughed. "Since you don't know me, I'll tell you my name. It's Felipe Cortes. For five hundred years I terrorized the denizens of Mexico and planted my seed in numerous offspring. Unfortunately none of them lived up to my standards. Perhaps you, being a crossbreed, can prove yourself to be a worthy child of mine." At this moment, Sado's reiatsu skyrocketed dramatically. His right arm changed into a large mouth-like shield, whilst his left arm grew a layer of white armour.

"I should have known all along," Sado said with a deep sigh. "My real father never existed. You took him away from me. I never had a chance to see what a kind hearted man he was. But just this once, I shall honour his memory. You may have given me my inner hollow, but the source of my powers comes from my mother, and my Abuelo!" With that, he fired an El Directo blast at Cortes. The hollow blocked the attack with his arms. Sado followed up by charging directly at Cortes and slamming him into another telephone pole. Then he grabbed him by the neck and punched him repeatedly in the face.

"Is that the best you can do?" Cortes asked after Sado's fifth successive punch. "You've disappointed me!" In a sudden strike, Cortes slashed across Sado's chest, causing a huge torrent of blood to spew out and splatter onto the ground.

"Oh no, Chad's seriously injured!" Rukia shouted. Without thinking, she tried going off to heal him, but she was stopped by Ichigo who grabbed her hand.

"Didn't you say we shouldn't help Chad in this fight?" Ichigo asked. "Why you are you going back on your word? Compared to the previous situation, Chad's truly fighting for his honour now. Even if loses his life we cannot help him." With that, Ichigo and Rukia watched as Cortes up Sado up, slashing him repeatedly across the torso, in the face and on both arms. Soon, Sado was struggling to stand, his whole body literally covered in blood. Sensing the fight was almost over, Cortes grabbed Sado by the neck with his left hand and prepared to stab him in the heart with his right arm.

"My expectations of you were far too high," he snickered. "You're just like the other trash I bred. What a pity. This is it for you." Ichigo and Rukia closed their eyes just as their saw Cortes go for the final strike. To their surprise, there was no sound of blood splattering everywhere.

"Impossible!" Cortes exclaimed. His right arm had barely penetrated Sado's body. "My claws are sharp enough to punch through hierro! How can this happen?"

"You want to know why?" Sado asked. "It's because I've fully mastered the hollow that is inside of me." With that Sado grabbed both of Corte's arms and with a giant yank snapped them both in half. Cortes screamed in agony as blood spurted from his joints.

"This is my ultimate power. Armadura del Dioces," Sado explained. "It is many times thicker than hierro. It is fitting that I end your life with the power you gave me. La Muerte" Sado punched Cortes hard in the stomach with his left hand. A second later, Cortes exploded into dozens of pieces. They splattered across the ground and soon vanished from existence. With the look of a man relieved to have accomplished his task, Sado released his powers and collapsed to the ground. Seeing that he was down, Ichigo and Rukia rushed to his side.

"How is he Rukia?" Ichigo asked.

"He's still alive. But he's lost a lot of blood," Rukia replied. "I can heal his spirit body, but his physical body needs medical treatment." Just then, Ichigo noticed two figures running down the street towards them. It was Kon and Chappy.

"Ichigo, we've called the ambulance," Kon called out. "They'll be arriving here any moment now."

"Thank goodness," Ichigo breathed a sigh of relief. "Now, if you would excuse me," He placed his hand on Kon's head and in an instant the mod soul was ejected from the gigai. Rukia did the same to Chappy once she was finished healing Sado's spirit body. The two of them got into their gigais and waited for the ambulance.

"Thank you so much for everything," Grandpa Sado said to Ichigo and Rukia. They were standing at the entrance to Naha Airport's departures terminal, two days after the Kazuya incident. Thanks to Rukia's healing and Kon's speedy calling for the ambulance, Sado recovered after half a day in hospital. The blood on the streets and the damage to the surrounding property was covered up by Ichigo, who replaced the memories of any potential bystanders. A day later, Sado's father Kazuya was buried at the local cemetery, in a quiet ceremony that was attended by the family along with Ichigo and Rukia.

"I'm sorry about what happened with your father," Ichigo said.

"Don't worry about it," Sado said. "I learned to get over loss a long time ago. Seeing my father just once before he died was enough for me."

"Are you planning to stay with your relatives for a while?" Rukia asked.

"Probably. I might return to Mexico again and find my mother's family," Sado replied. Ichigo and Rukia said goodbye to Shin, Selena, Sado's grandfather and grandmother, and finally to Sado himself. Then, after picking up their luggage, they entered the airport's doors. As they reached the check-in point, Rukia's soul pager went off.

"Is it an order from command?" Ichigo asked. Rukia nodded.

"It's a call from Soifon and Yoruichi. They want us to meet them in a place called Beijing," she said. Mention of the word 'Beijing' made Ichigo light up.

"Ah, Beijing, now that's a good city to go to," he thought.

* * *

Notes: Chad's family history was something that occured to me when I was writing After the War. After developing the evil side of Chad's character, as well as his inner hollow, I thought it would be a good idea to explain where Chad's powers came from. It was also an excuse to delve into some of the plot holes that Kubo left in the early Bleach manga. I would also like to apologize for the faulty spelling of Chad's name; before doing some research on Chad's background, I always thought Sado was his first name, and Yasutora his family name. This revelation shaped how I developed the other members of Chad's family.

Sado Kazuya and Gloria de la Rosa: Chad's mother and father. Seeing as Chad has a Japanese name but a Latino appearance, I always imagined his father was Japanese and his mother a Mexican. As a means to explain why Chad grew up in Mexico, I thought of the idea of them breaking up and Chad's mother taking him to see his Abuelo, or grandfather. As for Chad's inner hollow, I figured he must have been passed on by his father.

Felipe Cortes: The hollow who devoured and possessed Kazuya's body. In order to make the idea of Chad inheriting his hollow powers from his father plausible, the only option was to have him be possessed by a hollow who then proceeds to impregnate his mother. Thus Chad is conceived with hollow DNA, but does not awaken his latent powers until he meets Ichigo.

Armadura del Dicoes: Armour of the Gods in Spanish. This is Chad's ultimate power-up, developed when he was held in captivity by Aizen.


	3. Chapter 3: Beijing

Bleach Fanstory: A Bleached Honeymoon

By Michael Xu

Bleach and its characters are trademarks of Kubo Tite and Shuesha. I don't hold any claim on it apart from the OCs I create

Summary: This is the sequel to Bleach: After the War, and follows the adventures of Ichigo and Rukia as they go on their honeymoon tour of the real world, exterminating hollows in the process.

Story so far: Ichigo and Rukia follow Chad to Okinawa. They are greeted upon arrival by Chad's relatives: his grandparents, and his cousins Shin and Selena. During their stay in Okinawa, Ichigo and Rukia learn about Chad's past, and about his missing father, Sado Kazuya. During a short trip to a beach, Chad's father suddenly reappears and assaults Chad's grandparents and his cousin Selena. Deciding to take revenge for the death of his mother, Chad confronts his father, but is quickly outmatched, as his powers have been sealed by Commander General Unohana. Upon Ichigo's orders, Rukia undoes the seal, giving Chad his powers back. Just as Chad's father is beaten to a pulp, he reveals a shocking secret; the real Sado Kazuya had died long ago and the person who Chad thought of as his father was actually a hollow by the name of Felipe Cortes. With the revelation that he was conceived from a union of a hollow and a human, Chad forgives the memory of his father and finishes Cortes off. A day later, Ichigo and Rukia receive a call from Soifon and Yoruichi, telling them to go to Beijing.

* * *

Chapter 3: Beijing

The Boeing 747-400 slowly descended over Beijing, heading towards the airport. On board were Ichigo and Rukia, having bought tickets for a direct flight from Okinawa. Since the plane started its descent, Rukia had been peering through the windows, looking down at the city below.

"Whoa, such a vast city," she said in awe. "So this is the capital of China."

"What's so special about its size?" Ichigo asked. "Tokyo's much bigger. Besides, people only come here to admire its historical attractions."

"Don't be so mean," Rukia scowled at Ichigo. "Compared to you I've barely experience much of the real world. Cities like these make Seireitei puny in comparison." Soon, the jumbo jet neared the runway, and the magnificent main terminal of Beijing's Capital Airport came into view. Shaped like a giant red arrow pointing south, it spanned for miles, ending in a teardrop shaped apex.

"That is one seriously awesome airport," Rukia said. Ichigo didn't bother looking; he had heard about the main terminal many times when he was a child. The plane touched down on the runway and headed towards one of the docking ports. Half an hour later, Ichigo and Rukia cleared customs and arrived at the luggage collection area. As they placed their bags on trolleys and entered one of the spacious arrival halls they were greeted by two familiar faces: Soifon and Yoruichi. Soifon was dressed in a black, full length t-shirt and green khaki pants, and wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses. Yoruichi was dressed in a more revealing purple dress that barely covered her legs. Around her neck was a flowing cream coloured scarf.

"Yoruichi-san, Soifon-san, what are you doing here?" Ichigo asked.

"We were waiting for you of course," Yoruichi replied in a deadpan voice.

"Where have the two of you been? You were supposed to arrive here two days ago!" Soifon exclaimed. "And how come you're wearing tropical shirts?" Ichigo and Rukia looked each other with embarrassed faces. They definitely had to explain some things.

"Um, we went to Okinawa to help a friend deal with some family related issues," Rukia replied. Soifon and Yoruichi gave her puzzled looks.

"Family related issues? Who is this friend you're speaking about?" Yoruichi asked.

"It's Chad," Ichigo said bluntly. Soifon and Yoruichi were stunned.

"I thought he was supposed to stay in Tokyo and be kept under strict supervision!" Soifon exclaimed. "He can still pose a threat with his inner hollow."

"I know that. I made sure beforehand that his powers remained sealed," Ichigo had to lie. "Plus our trip wasn't all fun and games. We had to deal with an Adjucha menos who had been hiding among the populace there."

"Is that that so? Then this changes things. We shall discuss things in the car," Soifon said. She and Yoruichi led Ichigo and Rukia to the front entrance of the airport terminal, where a black limousine was waiting. After they all got in, Soifon ordered their driver, an undercover black ops member, to travel to their hotel in the inner city.

As they travelled down a freeway heading into the city, Ichigo and Rukia glanced out at the rather drab urban landscape, dotted with scores of identical flats and townhouses, with only a token presence of trees or bushes. The sky overhead was a blanket grey, casting an ominous feel over the entire city. Ichigo wondered if something big was about to happen.

"Apart from waiting for us, what were the two of you doing in Beijing?" he asked Yoruichi and Soifon.

"Cleaning up all the hollows of course, but that is the duty for Shinigamis everywhere," Yoruichi joked. Ichigo and Rukia chuckled.

"The truth is, the two of us are investigating a supernatural phenomenon in the centre of the city," Soifon explained. "Something's happened inside the Forbidden City, and whatever's causing it has warped the surrounding area. Tourists who entered the palace never came out, whilst a number of top government officials have begun acting strangely, with reports of several assassinations and sabotage in the ministry buildings. Even worse, the entire sky of Beijing has fallen under an unusual dark cloud which has caused apparitions to appear everywhere. In short, the city's in a state of chaos, and if we don't find out what's causing this disturbance, the entire country could be paralysed."

"I see," Ichigo said with some concern. "That's quite a situation."

"I don't get it," Rukia said. "What is the Forbidden City, and why is Beijing so important?" Ichigo quickly told everything to her, after which Rukia could only nod in agreement, stunned at how truly vast complicated the real world is.

"We can discuss the finer aspects of our mission once we get to the hotel," Yoruichi said. The limousine trundled into the CBD. Along the way, they encountered many attractions, most notably a striking lattice shaped stadium.

"Wow, what a remarkable stadium," Rukia admired. "It looks like a giant bird's nest."

"That's the stadium they used during the Olympic games held here several years ago. Nearby is the Water Cube, which hosted the swimming events. I remember watching the Olympics on television when I was young." When Rukia asked what the Olympics were, Ichigo had to go into another lengthy explanation that made absolutely no sense to her. Soifon and Yoruichi laughed, clearly sharing Ichigo's amusement at Rukia's lack of real world knowledge. The inner city area provided more attractions which required much explanation from Ichigo to get Rukia to understand them, such as the Tiananmen Square, the Hall of the People, and Mausoleum of Chairman Mao, founder of the modern Chinese state.

"You don't need to worry much about them," Yoruichi said to Rukia. "They're structures from a much more recent time. Instead, pay closer attention to the Forbidden City." Rukia nodded as the limousine passed the front entrance to the former imperial palace, adorned with a huge framed portrait of the Chairman. A few minutes later, they arrived at one of the city's most lavish hotels, in what was still a new residential area. The porters at the front door took care of the luggage, whilst Soifon and Yoruichi showed Ichigo and Rukia to their rooms. Upon opening the door, Rukia immediately jumped onto a king sized bed, complete with oversized mattresses and pillows, as Ichigo put the luggage away.

"This bed is so comfortable!" Rukia exclaimed. "I've never slept on a bed as soft as this one, not even at Nii-sama's!"

"That's because all of the beds in Soul Society happen to lie flat on the ground," Ichigo explained. "A bed like this is standard in most hotels." He walked towards the window and looked out. He realized they were a dozen stories above the ground. From here, he could see half the city. The view would have been more impressive were it not for the oppressive grey fog that blanketed all of the sky.

"Beijing's not known for having sunny skies," Ichigo shook his head as he sat down and made some tea. A few minutes later, someone knocked on the door. It was Yoruichi.

"Hey you lovebirds, why don't you come down and join Soifon and me for some dinner?" she asked. "The sun's nearly gone down." Ichigo and Rukia nodded.

* * *

The next morning, having gone out and eaten at a lavish restaurant, Ichigo and Rukia woke up feeling bloated and stiff.

"Oh god, I feel terrible," Rukia moaned. "I think it was all of the pork and duck that I ate." She rubbed her stomach as she felt it rumbling, causing Ichigo to burst out laughing.

"Serves you right for eating too much. The Chinese like to eat far more than the Japanese do," he said. Rukia threw her pillow at Ichigo's head before stomping off to get changed. An hour later, they met Soifon and Yoruichi in the front lobby of the hotel.

"Did you have a good night's sleep?" Soifon asked smugly.

"The bed was nice, but the food yesterday was too much to handle," Rukia replied.

"I don't blame you," Yoruichi smiled. "I prefer to eat Indian food."

"Indian food?" Ichigo was confused, "How do you know about India?"

"Oh, I never told you did I?" Yoruichi shook her head and laughed. "Well, the ancestors of my family originated from India. They were servants of the legendary emperor Ashoka, who ruled Indian some two thousand three hundred years ago. When the empire collapsed a century later, the entire family was murdered and sent to Soul Society. They participated in the founding of Seireitei, along with four other families, thus establishing themselves as a great clan."

"Wow, I never knew the Shihouin clan was so ancient," Rukia said. "I must ask Nii-sama about the Kuchiki family's origins when we get back."

"Yes, it would be good if you did," Yoruichi smiled. They stopped talking and decided to get into a limousine again. The driver took them to the flag pole in front of Tiananmen Square and dropped them off. Soifon led the others to front gate of the former imperial city. A large group of soldiers from the People's Liberation Army barred the gate. Soifon walked up to them and gave them a salute. As they spoke in Mandarin, Soifon showed them her ID. A few seconds later the soldiers allowed them through.

"That was quick," Rukia glanced at the soldiers as they passed by.

"I didn't know you worked for the Chinese government," Ichigo said. Soifon smiled as they walked across a vast courtyard.

"My family's always maintained close links with the real world. The ancestors of my family, the Fon, were servants to the Tang Dynasty when they were still alive. As a minor noble family, they were of high standing within the imperial palace, which at the time was located west of here," Soifon explained. "In the middle of the eight century, there was a massive uprising against the dynasty that almost overthrew the emperor. Our whole family was murdered and sent to Soul Society. We wandered around Rukongai for an indeterminable period before placing ourselves under the Shihouin family. As spies and agents for the Special forces, we regularly went into the real world and mingled amongst the local populace."

"So that explains why you have ties to the government," Ichigo said. "You and Yoruichi-san must have been co-operating with them on this mission."

"Precisely," Yoruichi nodded. "Whilst you led the invasion of the King's Realm, we were in the real world trying to renew the contacts that had been lost because of Aizen's reign. Because of the chaos in Soul Society, spiritual activity has increased in various parts of the world. China is one of the countries that have been severely affected."

"Well then, I guess we've got some cleaning up to do then," Ichigo said, stretching his arms. The four of them reached the Meridian Gate, the true front gate to the Forbidden City. The gate was an imposing structure, several stories high, and made out of ancient red bricks. It consisted of a main building with three arches in the middle, flanked on both sides by protruding wings. As they stood in front of the arches, Ichigo and Rukia could already sense something ominous lurking within. A gust of wind blew across the courtyard, sending shivers up Ichigo's spine.

"I feel hundreds of strange reiatsu signatures coming from the inside," Rukia whispered to Ichigo, who nodded in response. A lowly government official, dressed in navy blue uniform, stood in front of the central arch. He saluted Soifon as she walked towards him. The two of them talked with each other in Mandarin for a while before Soifon motioned Ichigo and Rukia to come closer.

"Comrade Lin, these two are agents from Japanese Security and Intelligence Agency, Kurosaki Ichigo and Kuchiki Rukia," Soifon said in Japanese. "They have been sent by the Japanese Government to assist me and agent Shihouin of the Indian Intelligence Bureau in solving this supernatural phenomenon. Ichigo, Rukia, I want you to meet Lin Shao Khan, an official from the Ministry of State Security."

"It's good to meet you, Mr. Kurosaki, Ms. Kuchiki," Lin spoke in Japanese with noticeable dialect. "It's been a nightmare standing guard by this gate. In the past few weeks I've had to endure constant screams and echoes coming from within."

"How come you're the only one standing here?" Ichigo asked. "Your government would have surely placed a large group of special forces to surround the palace."

"Everyone else was too scared to stay in this place," Lin shook his head. "We Chinese are a deeply suspicious lot, and since the incidents inside the palace began, no one except me was brave enough to volunteer for guard duty. I hope the two of you are as good as Comrade Fon has made me believe, for you're going to need it for whatever's waiting inside. You have permission to enter, but I won't accompany you inside."

"You don't need to," Soifon said. "The four of us will be fine by ourselves." Lin Shao Khan gave them all a final greeting before Soifon led the others through the front arch of the gate. What they encountered on the other side was a courtyard filled tons of hollows and spirits, munching on the corpses of other spirits and dead bodies. A small stream intersecting the courtyard had been dyed red, and the walls on both sides of the courtyard were splattered with dried blood. Rukia felt sick just looking at the mutilated faces of the dead bodies.

"These must be the bodies of the tourists who went missing," Soifon said, as she, Ichigo and Yoruichi swiftly disposed of all of the hollows.

"I can feel a powerful reiatsu up ahead," Rukia said. The four of them trudged through the mass of bodies to reach the Gate of Supreme Harmony, a pavilion-shaped building that marked the entrance to the central square of the palace. Upon walking through the gate and arriving at the central square, Ichigo, Rukia, Soifon and Yoruichi gasped at what lay in front of them. In the middle of a vast open area was the Hall of Supreme Harmony, a gigantic pavilion. Surrounding it was a set of concrete tiers, with three flights of steps leading up to the entrance of the hall. None of this was unusual, except for the sight of hundreds of stakes at the base of the steps. Upon each of the stakes was a rotten head, contorted in hideous expressions.

"Impaled heads…this looks a lot like something Vlad the impaler would have done," Ichigo said, remembering something he read in the history books.

"Whoever did this, they surely must be a depraved bastard," Yoruichi said, shaking her head. Around them, the presence of numerous evil spirits was felt, but the immense spiritual pressure coming from the hall was a more urgent matter. The four of them decided that the time for action had come. Taking out their Gikongan, they entered their Shinigami forms, and ordered their mod souls to go back to the second gate.

"Let's go," Soifon said. She led the others up the flight of stairs. Upon reaching the top, each of them entered through a separate entrance. The interior of the hall was filled with immaculate sculptures and paintings, but it was the throne that caught Ichigo's attention. Covered with gold, it was decorated with pictures of a dragon, and small dragons coiled around the hand rests. Sitting upon the throne was a man dressed in an elaborate yellow gown embossed with numerous dragon motifs, and upon his head was a rectangular shaped crown. A wavy moustache and a short beard marked his otherwise unblemished face and he stared at Soifon's group with cold brown eyes.

"What business does a group of Shinigami have with me?" the man asked in a deep and forceful voice. Ichigo noticed he was holding a golden baton in his left hand.

"Isn't it obvious? You must be the one responsible for the atrocities and other supernatural phenomena occurring in this city, and especially in this palace," Soifon responded, unsheathing her sword from her back. Yoruichi, Ichigo and Rukia did the same. The man started laughing.

"I don't believe this! You Shinigami finally decide to deal with the real world properly, instead of focusing on your petty dimensional struggles, and your first target is me? Is Soul Society so afraid of my power that they have to send two captains in order to eliminate me?" He stood up from his chair, still laughing madly.

"Judging by your reiatsu, it would not be wise for us to underestimate your power," Rukia said. "Vasto Lorde."

"Oh, dear, my cover's already broken," the man slapped himself on the head, before glaring at them with an evil grin. "My plan was going so nicely too. Within a few months I would have succeeded in bringing the entire country under my dominion, but now I have to do deal with you maggots first." He flared up his spiritual pressure, exerting a tremendous crushing force upon the Shinigami, but none of them were fazed.

"We've seen through your ruse already, Ban Kailong," Soifon said. "As the heir of the Fon dynasty, the name of our family's nemesis is deeply etched in my mind."

"Ah ha ha!" Kailong laughed. "I don't believe this! A descendent of the Fon family appears before me, and even more, she knows my true identity. What a rare treat. I have no doubt her soul will be extremely tasty. Eliminate them, my servants!" A strong gust of wind blew inside the room, bringing with it particles of sand. Within moments these particles arranged themselves into man-high terracotta statues, wielding swords, spears and arrows.

"Terracotta warriors," Ichigo said. "This is going to be troublesome." He and Rukia slashed at the statues in front of them, cleaving them in two, but within moments the statues reformed themselves and started attacking them again.

"These things are indestructible!" Rukia exclaimed.

"They're being controlled by Kailong's reiatsu," Soifon said, undoing her haori. "As long as he is alive, it is impossible to destroy them." She Shunpo-ed towards Kailong, chanting "Sting all enemies to death, Suzumebachi," as she did so.

"A blind charge at me will never work!" Kailong shouted, unsheathing a gigantic two handed pole-arm. He swung downward, trying to cleave Soifon's head in two, but the nimble-footed captain of the 2nd division easily avoided the attack and struck him in the side. She barely managed to penetrate the heavy plate mail, but did enough to mark him with a Homonka.

"It's over. One more strike from my Suzumebachi and you're dead," Soifon said. Turning around on the spot, she swooped in for the second strike. Before she could land a hit, Kailong's body suddenly dissolved into dust. Ichigo, Rukia and Yoruichi all froze in shock.

"His body's disappeared, but these statues are still standing," Ichigo said.

"Then that means his spirit energy is still present," Yoruichi said. "He must have transferred to another living body."

"Like a Jibaku right?" Rukia asked. "Then that means we have to find his real spirit body, and destroy it."

"And that you'll never do!" a booming voice shouted from above. The four Shinigami ran out of the hall and glanced at the sky. All of a sudden a monstrous creature swooped overhead. It resembled a dragon, covered with golden scales. Its long flexible body stretched for hundreds of feet.

"Come back here!" Soifon shouted as she saw the dragon fly off to the northwest. She jumped into the air and Shunpo-ed after him. At this moment, hundreds of terracotta statures appeared and surrounded Ichigo, Rukia and Yoruichi.

"Go Yoruichi-san!" Ichigo shouted. "Rukia and I will hold these off."

"Take care then," Yoruichi nodded. She Shunpo-ed into the air and desperately tried to catch up to Soifon.

"Okay, we're surrounded by a horde of indestructible clay warriors who are being controlled by a hollow who can take control of physical bodies. Any ideas Ichigo?" Rukia asked. Ichigo shrugged his shoulders.

"You ask me. This isn't like those horror movies," he said.

* * *

Soifon almost ran out of breath before she caught up to Kailong, who was now in the body of a giant golden dragon. They were hovering above the Great Wall of China, the ancient line of defences that had kept the steppe barbarians at bay. She tried piercing his skin, but the leathery scales were too hard to penetrate.

"Touch luck Shinigami," the dragon Kailong roared. "My skin is as tough as an arrancar's hierro!" With a flick of his tail he swatted Soifon towards the cliffs below. She crash landed on top of the great wall, creating a large crater in the process.

"Damn, I dropped my guard," Soifon cursed herself. Before she could get up, Kailong breathed a torrent of flames from his mouth at the great wall. Soifon narrowly avoided being hit it. She jumped into the air and quickly shouted "Bankai!" . The stinger wrapped around her right middle finger disappeared, replaced with a bare sword. In the middle of the air however, a swarm of bees suddenly appearing, coalescing into a giant bee, covered with yellow and black stripes. Kailong stared at it in shock.

"What is this thing?" he bellowed.

"Kougou Hachi Suzumebachi," Soifon said. "This is my Bankai. Each of the millions of bees that comprise the mother bee has enough power to kill a target instantly, should they penetrate." She waved around her left hand, sending the swarm of bees to strike at Kailong's body. The dragon raised its tail and swatted them all away.

"How useless," Kailong admonished her. "You call this a Bankai. Those tiny bees will never be strong enough to pierce my skin!" He opened his mouth again and this time fired a gigantic cero directly at Soifon. The powerful red beam slammed into the bedrock of the great wall, completely demolishing a large chunk of it. When the dust cleared, Soifon was slightly burnt but otherwise unscathed.

"Phew, if I hadn't erected that Danku barrier I would have been seriously injured," she said to herself.

"Damn you!" Kailong shouted. The dragon flew downwards, opening its mouth in an attempt to eat her. Before he even got close to Soifon, his entire body was wrapped up by what seemed like giant ropes.

"Need some help, captain?" Yoruichi asked. She was sitting upon her Bankai, Nekomata Yabun Akisunerai; a giant black cat nearly fifty-foot high. Nine tails came out of its body, and each of them was now coiled around Kailong.

"Urgh, what are these ropes? I can't break free!" Kailong screamed.

"Thanks Yoruichi-san," Soifon said. "But I didn't really need any help. She got up and directed her swarm of bees to fly into the dragon's mouth. A second later the golden dragon swelled outward and exploded in a shower of gibs and blood.

"It's over at last," Yoruichi said, returning her Zanpakto to normal.

"No it isn't!" Soifon exclaimed. The two of them noticed that despite the destruction of the dragon, a powerful reiatsu was still present in the vicinity. _He's still alive!_ She thought to herself. Moments later, the remnant spirit particles floating in the air assembled themselves into a single being. Outwardly he resembled a human, with long, lithe arms and a hollow mask shaped into the form of a crown. He wore yellow robes with the symbol of the dragon on it. From his back grew two gigantic wings, nearly thirty foot across. What was more, the reiatsu flowing from his body terrified Soifon and Yoruichi. Not since their battle with the horsemen Carestia had they encountered a hollow of such power.

"It's been a long time since I've shown my true form," Kailong spoke. His voice had both the regality of his human disguise and the ferociousness of his dragon disguise. "Staying in it for too long shortens my life. That is why I shall dispose of you two quickly." He clasped his arms around himself and then thrust outwards. The force of the resultant blast knocked Soifon and Yoruichi hundreds of yards away; they narrowly avoided crashing into neighbouring mountains by solidifying the spirit particles in the air.

"What a powerful spirit force," Yoruichi grimaced. She looked down at the remnants of her left arm, nothing more than a stump due to the events of the Winter War. _I wish I still had my arm_, she thought.

"Prepare to die!" Kailong shouted. He pointed his fingers at Soifon and Yoruichi and fired a hailstorm of needles from them.

"Yoruichi-san!" Soifon yelled out. Yoruichi looked at her and nodded. The two of them activated Shunko, forming a dense layer of Kidou around their shoulders. Streaks of lightning shot out and burnt all of the needles into ashes. Kailong was not finished yet. The hollow swooped down and barrelled into Yoruichi. She tried breaking her grip, but Kailong suddenly threw her into Soifon. The two of them crashed into the great wall again, ending up on top of each other. As they struggled to get back on their feet, Kailong charged up spirit energy in his eyes. Soifon and Yoruichi realized what was about to happen, but it was too late to react, as Kailong fired twin ceros from his eyes. The beams lanced down at the great wall, blowing up a huge chunk of the surrounding mountains.

"It's over," Kailong gloated. He started laughing hysterically. However his laughter was cut short when the smoke around the ruins of the great wall cleared, revealing Ichigo in his Bankai robes. He Shunpo-ed in front of Soifon and Yoruichi a second before the cero hit and activated Tengetsu Gaieshi to form a spirit barrier around them.

"Hey," Ichigo said, amused at the still shocked faces of Soifon and Yoruichi. "Sorry I had to interrupt your fight." Rukia, who had been following behind Ichigo, helped the two women to their feet.

"Thanks for saving us Ichigo," Yoruichi said.

"No problem," Ichigo turned to look at Soifon. "Do you want to finish him off yourself?" Soifon nodded. She returned her Zanpakto to its shikai state.

"I do need some help though," she said. "Can you restrain him for a brief moment? One second is all I need to strike my Homonka a second time." Ichigo nodded.

"Do you really think you Shinigami have a chance against me?" Kailong asked furiously. "Take this!" He gathered all of his spirit energy together and charged it in the palms of his hands. A second later he fired a powerful yellow energy blast at Ichigo and Soifon. Ichigo Shunpo-ed upward and in one sudden movement, deflected the blast into a nearby mountain. Before Kailong could react, Ichigo constricted his waist with Zangetsu's chain, immobilizing him.

"Now's your chance!" Ichigo yelled. In a split second movement, Soifon struck Kailong right where the Homonka was.

"Hasta la vista, Ban Kailong," Soifon mocked. The dragon hollow didn't even have time to scream before he disintegrated into nothing.

* * *

A day later Ichigo, Rukia, Soifon and Yoruichi stood in the middle of Tiananmen Square. With the death of Kailong, the oppressive fog that had covered the entire city was lifted, and for the first time in months the inhabitants of Beijing saw the light of the sun. The terracotta warriors and other spirits spawned by Kailong's influence disappeared and the Forbidden City was reopened to the general public. The government privately thanked Soifon's group for their efforts but publicly covered up the entire incident.

"So where are you planning to go next?" Yoruichi asked. Ichigo shrugged his shoulders and then glanced at Rukia, who was fiddling with her soul pager.

"I'm not sure yet. Commander Unohana told us to clean up spiritual hotspots so I suppose we'll head to the nearest one," Ichigo replied.

"You're in luck then," Soifon said. "There is a big concentration of spirits in the central provinces near Shanghai. Yoruichi and I were planning on going there but Unohana-san has sent us on a new assignment."

"We've got a flight scheduled to depart this afternoon," Yoruichi said. "Do you want to accompany us to the airport?" Rukia and Ichigo looked at each other.

"I don't know Yoruichi-sama," Rukia said. "We've spent a lot of money on flights already." She looked at her purse with some concern.

"You could try catching the train," Soifon suggested. "It might take longer but it will be far cheaper than going by airplane. Plus, you're going to have to take your time going through the southern provinces anyway. There's bound to be a lot of lost souls about."

* * *

Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter done. A lot of other things came up, plus I spent ages trying to think up story ideas. Having Writer's block definitely did not help either.

Part of the reason for the long writing time was the complex back stories I developed for both Soifon and Yoruichi to explain their presence in Beijing. Given their appearance and names, it wouldn't be a stretch to have their ancestors originate from India and China. Soifon's backstory in particular ties in the the hollow featured in this chapter.

Ban Kailong: His name has a Chinese origin, like Soifon's. The Ban is from the Japanese word Banzai, and comes from the Chinese word that stands for Ten thousand. Kai means open and long means dragon. So his name literally means Ten thousand Open dragon. His character designs were based around the Tang and Qing emperors, and the traditional Chinese dragon. His final hollow form resembles Kousaka Soujirou's ice dragon form. Finally, the terracotta warriors he summons come from the real-like terracotta warriors that were buried with the first emperor Qin Shihuang.

Kougou Hachi Suzumebachi: This is Soifon's Bankai. For those who haven't read AW, its name means Queen Bee Hornet Sting in Japanese.

Nekomata Yabun Akisunerai: This is Yoruichi's Bankai. Again for those who haven't read AW, its name means Nekomata Prowler of the Night. Nekomata was taken from Naruto, it being the name of the two-tailed Biju.

I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please send send me feedback and reviews!


	4. Chapter 4: Nanjing

Bleach Fanstory: A Bleached Honeymoon

By Michael Xu

Bleach and its characters are trademarks of Kubo Tite and Shuesha. I don't hold any claim on it apart from the OCs I create

This is the sequel to Bleach: After the War, and follows Ichigo and Rukia as they embark on their honeymoon/mission around the world.

Summary: Ichigo and Rukia accepted a mission given by Commander General Unohana to clean up the real world's spiritual hot spots, using it as an excuse to go on a honeymoon. After dealing with a monster attack on Tokyo, the pair accompanied Chad to Okinawa, and helped him confront his estranged father, who turned out to be a hollow in disguise. Ichigo and Rukia then travelled to Beijing, where Soifon and Yoruichi were waiting for them. The four high level Shinigami investigated a strange spiritual phenomena occuring in the Forbidden City, and encountered a millenia old hollow, Ban Kailong. This ancient fiend had put the entire city under a shroud of darkness, pluning the country into chaos. With his disguise broken, the hollow fled to the great wall. Soifon and Yoruichi chased after him and, assisted by Ichigo and Rukia, put an end to his reign of terror. With their task finished, Ichigo and Rukia decided to head south, guided by their spiritual pager...

* * *

Chapter 4: Nanjing

"Are you sure this is the right train?" Rukia asked Ichigo, as they looked up at a giant timetable. The two of them had followed Soifon's advice and went to Beijing's central station to find a route that would take them through the central provinces, where according to Yoruichi a large concentration of spirits resided.

"Yes I'm sure of it," Ichigo replied. "I studied Mandarin in junior and middle high school, so I know how to read, write and speak some of it. The line we're catching goes down through the coastal provinces from Beijing, before terminating at Shanghai. I don't think we need to go all the way though. Is your soul pager picking up any spiritual signatures?"

"Um, let's see," Rukia clicked her soul pager several times. "There's a large concentration of spirits some fifteen hundred miles south of Beijing, between these two provinces." Rukia showed Ichigo her pager, pointing to the large yellow area straddling the borders of Anhui and Jiangsu provinces. Ichigo looked at it for a moment, and then had a sudden realization.

"I think know the reason why there's such a large volume of spirits there," Ichigo said. "I studied a bit of recent Chinese history in junior high and during that time I learnt that Japanese soldiers murdered hundreds of thousands of people in the city of Nanjing during the Second World War. Then about twenty years later, a mass famine struck those two provinces and millions ended up dying. I doubt the Gotei 13 would have had enough manpower to send all of the people who died from these catastrophic events to Soul Society."

"Duh, two thousand Shinigami for millions of souls? Of course they wouldn't be able to handle it!" Rukia yelled at Ichigo. "Anyway, if there's really going to be that many dead people about, we're going to have our work cut out for us."

"Exactly. Which is why we can't afford to waste any time," Ichigo said, picking up his bags and heading towards the boarding area. "Our men must be crying for us to come back by now." Rukia laughed at Ichigo's remark. The two of them went through the clearance check and went down an escalator to the platform below. The train they had booked was already waiting for them. Entering a double-decker carriage, Ichigo and Rukia navigated their way through a series of narrow passages before they found the cabin number listed on their ticket.

"This is the one, cabin 15," Ichigo said. He pushed open the door, revealing a cramped room with four bunk beds, two on each side. There were two small drawers beside the doorway but they were barely large enough to fit the luggage.

"Oh great, we have to sleep in this small place?" Rukia moaned. "Plus we have to share it with two other people."

"I think all of the cabins in this train are like that, so it's not like we're getting a raw deal. Plus, you were quite happy to sleep in my closet for two months. Remember that?" Ichigo asked her slyly. He chuckled when he saw Rukia blush. She responded by hitting him with her bag.

"Fine then, I'll take the top bunk," she said. Ichigo was still chuckling inside as he placed his luggage in the drawers.

The train to Nanjing slowly departed Beijing Railway station, gathering speed as it passed through the city. Within an hour the train was well beyond Beijing's urban area.

The journey was mostly uneventful. Apart from eating at the overpriced bar at the rear of the train, Ichigo and Rukia stayed in their cabins, reading manga tankobans to pass the time. The landscape of rural China rolled by without them noticing much, and as the sun set the two of them got changed and slept on the bunks.

* * *

By the next morning, the train was still heading towards Nanjing. But as it crossed a stretch of land marked with gravestones, it suddenly derailed. The engine slid off the tracks and smashed into a house, causing all of the carriages to overturn. They continued sliding across the ground until they were stopped by a cluster of trees. With the train finally halted, the passengers inside who had not been instantly killed by the derailment woke up screaming and in pain.

"What the hell happened?" Ichigo asked. He awoke to find himself lying face down on what appeared to be the rear wall, squashed under a mattress. He quickly got the mattress off him. It was then that he saw Rukia, wedged into the ceiling, with her right arm handing limp by her side.

"Rukia!!" Ichigo yelled. He ran over to her side and checked her vital life signs. He was relieved that she was still breathing, and tried slapping her face to get her to open her eyes.

"Uhh…" Rukia moaned as she opened her eyes. "Ichigo, what happened?"

"I'm not sure. Let's get out of this room for now," he replied. Rukia tried getting up, but then a bolt of pain surged up her arm. Ichigo felt her arm and frowned in concern.

"Oh no, your elbow's broken," Ichigo said. "I'll have to bandage it with a sling." He rummaged through the luggage and got out a jacket. As he gently slung up her arm, Rukia noticed the huge bruise on Ichigo's forehead.

"You're bleeding!" she exclaimed. Ichigo was shocked for a moment, but then he felt his forehead and realized what happened.

"No wonder my head was throbbing when I woke up," he sighed. "I guess I need to bandage myself as well." He grabbed a towel from their luggage and wrapped it around his head. "Can you walk?"

"I think so," Rukia said. Pushing with her left arm, she managed to climb out of the bunk and walk to the luggage. After they hastily dressed themselves, Ichigo and Rukia grabbed what remained of their luggage and tried to get out of the carriage. Along the way they encountered scores of injured people about. There was shattered glass everywhere, as well the smell of gas.

"Shit, we've got to get out now!" Ichigo yelled. He and Rukia squeezed out of the space between the carriages and ran as fast as they could from the train. Moments later, the whole carriage went up in flames, as the leaking diesel fuel from the engine ignited. Ichigo and Rukia dived for the ground, but the heat from the flames was still intense enough to singe their skin. Before the fire intensified, Ichigo and Rukia got as far as they could away from the train. Only after running some two hundred yards did they finally stop and catch their breath.

"That was close," Ichigo gasped. His hands were numb from carrying the entire luggage and his head was still throbbing. He looked back at the smouldering train and wondered how many people were still trapped in there, unable to get out in time.

"I don't understand," Rukia said. "How did the train suddenly derail like that?" Ichigo struggled to come up with an explanation, but then his senses tingled. Glancing around, he saw several strange figures coming towards them.

"Rukia, do you still have your soul pager?" he asked.

"I do," Rukia replied. She rummaged through the pockets of her jacket and pulled out the cell phone like pager. She glanced at the screen and gasped.

"My god, there's hundreds of spiritual entities closing in on us!" she exclaimed.

"My suspicions were correct then," Ichigo said, standing up. "This place is full of gravestones, so I am guessing it must be where the people from the famine or the massacres died. Their spirits must have lain dormant, but then as the train went by, they responded to our reiatsu and attacked."

"So that means our presence here as caused this tragedy?" Rukia asked. Ichigo nodded grimly. He took out a Gikongan from his pocket and gulped it down. In an instant he was in his Shinigami form, complete with his captain's haori.

"Ow, why does my head hurt?" Kon in Ichigo's gigai asked. "You could've picked a better time to switch." Without needing a word, Rukia followed Ichigo and took out her Gikongan, changing into her Shinigami form.

"Kon, take Chappy and hide yourselves in the nearby houses until the area is safe. If you see any survivors, take care of them," Ichigo said.

"Alright," Kon nodded. He grabbed the luggage and then the two mod souls ran towards the houses in the distance. By now, the various spirit entities became clear enough for Ichigo to make out their appearance. All of them resembled badly decayed bodies, or skeletons, dressed in tattered garments. A few carried swords or other tools, whilst a few had mutated limbs and other body parts. But it was their eyes that were the most distinctive feature. All of them had soulless, piercing eyes, similar to a hollow's. Looking at them, Ichigo recognised what they were.

"Zombies," he said with a chuckle. "I thought they only existed in films and television shows, but I guess they really do exist."

"I've never seen these creatures before," Rukia said. "Are they hollows?"

"Who knows? But they certainly reek of hollow reiatsu. So our best option is to treat them like any other hollow-go for the kill!" Ichigo charged at the horde of zombies and in one swift movement sliced through the heads of dozens of the creatures. A moment later, the bodies crumbled into dust, as the hollow spirits trapped within howled in despair before disappearing.

"Looks I was right about them. They are hollows," Ichigo said. "They're just possessing dead human bodies."

"Well then, all we have to do is to kill them all, right?" Rukia asked. Ichigo grinned at her. With their juices running high, the two of them went on a rampage, killing all of the zombies in the vicinity. As their swords swung down, the hollows inside the dead bodies were purified. An hour later, Ichigo and Rukia finally stopped fighting and collapsed on the ground. Both of them were panting heavily. Hundreds of hollows had died to their Zanpaktos and for now, the immediate vicinity was clear of any spiritual activity.

"How are you feeling Rukia?" Ichigo asked.

"I'm a little weary, but I'm fine," Rukia replied. "We should get back to our gigais." They sheathed their swords and started searching for Kon and Chappy. But after searching around the wreckage of the train, going through all of the houses in the village and overlooking a five mile area from the air, they couldn't find any trace of them at all.

"Where the hell are they? They couldn't have run off this far by themselves during that time!" Ichigo exclaimed in frustration. Rukia frantically clicked on her soul pager. She then gasped in surprise.

"Ichigo, there's two faint spiritual pressures some twenty miles to the south. They don't resemble hollow reiatsu so I think it might be them," Rukia said.

"Something must have happened then. Quick, let's chase after them!" Ichigo shouted. He and Rukia Shunpo-ed across the sky, desperately trying to catch up to the two mod souls, wondering what had happened to them.

* * *

Kon opened his eyes, and wondered where he was. His head was still throbbing from the injury to the gigai Ichigo had suffered earlier, but now his body was aching. He looked around and noticed he was in the back of a ute. It was pitch black, but as his eyes adjusted to the light he could make out some things. Almost at once he spotted Chappy, lying on her back, with her blouse half torn. He quickly went beside her and shook her body.

"Wake up Chappy!" Kon whispered in her ear. "Wake up!" He tried shaking her many times, but to no avail. Just then a slot near the front of the container opened and a harsh voice barked something in what Kon recognised was Mandarin. He waited until the slot was closed and tried to wake Chappy up again. After several more tries she finally opened her eyes and stared blankly into the distance for a few seconds.

"Chappy is in a weird place, pyon," she said.

"Of course we are," Kon whispered. "Somebody blindsided us and threw us both in here, remember?"

"Chappy does not remember what happened after Ichi-san told us to hide, pyon." Kon told her to keep quiet. He listened to the sounds coming from outside the vehicle. Car horns, motorcycle engines and the rumblings of trucks made him convinced they were in the middle of a major city. The constant stopping of the ute was another indication. But Kon had no clue where they were going until he felt the ute stop completely the back door slide up. A sudden bright light blinded him, and then a mob of hooded men with thick accents shouted Mandarin into his ear. Kon saw two pairs of hands yank a screaming Chappy out of the ute; then two other people grabbed Kon by his shirt collar. The two of them were lead through a discrete warehouse and into a small but well decorated room containing an elevated throne and several large statues depicting strange figures in armour. On top of the throne sat what appeared to be a man dressed in elaborate golden robes and wearing a golden crown on his forehead. Kon noticed immediately however, that this person was not a living human, but a hollow in disguise, for evil reiatsu was oozing from his body. The hooded figures spoke in Mandarin to him, before he got up and addressed Kon and Chappy.

"Ah, esteemed guests, it is so nice of you to come here," the man spoke in a charismatic voice. "I have heard much about your deeds, Substitute Shinigami Kurosaki Ichigo and his nakama, Kuchiki Rukia. Your exploits in the Heavenly War have become legendary. It was a mighty deed indeed to have defeated the devil and restored God to his rightful place." Kon shivered as he saw the man come down the steps. _He thinks I'm Ichigo...I'm doomed if he finds out I'm just a fake! _He tried to put on Ichigo's serious looking face.

"What do you want with us?" Kon asked. "You sound as if you are happy with what we did." He sweated nervously, hoping that the man would buy his act.

"Ha, ha, ha!" the man suddenly burst out into an evil laugh. "Happy? Why would I be happy when the god I worshipped, the saviour of humanity, was cast down and replaced by a corrupt god, served by an army of false angels? I've known about you Shinigami for years. You think yourselves as servants of god, but I know that the god you serve is false. The Messiah may be dead at the moment, but mark my words one day he shall return, and I, Hong Xiuquan, shall be his greatest prophet!"

_This guy's totally insane_, Kon thought to himself. _Does he think Aizen was the Messiah?_ Kon didn't know much about Christian mythology, but he knew enough to know that Hong was seriously warped in his thinking. He shifted closer to Chappy, and was about to whisper something in her ear, when both of them were forced down on their knees. Their necks were pushed down upon wooden blocks, which were then clamped shut. Kon gulped as he saw two hooded figures carrying huge broadaxes come out. He tried to keep a calm face, but deep down he was shitting himself in terror.

"Before I execute both of you for your crimes against god, I shall read a sermon from the bible," Hong said in an arrogant tone. As he listened to the monotonous drone of Hong's voice, he prayed that Ichigo and Rukia to come and save them.

* * *

Ichigo and Rukia Shunpo-ed floated hundreds of feet above the mighty Yangtze River. On the river's eastern bank was the city of Nanjing, sprawling for dozens of miles to the east. The two of them had reached the outskirts of city in little more than an hour since losing sight of Kon and Chappy, but they could find no trace of the mod souls' reiatsus.

"Shit, we've lost sight of them," Ichigo gnashed his teeth. "It's going to be tough tying to search through the entire city."

"We can just stick to the places where spiritual activity is high," Rukia said.

"I guess that's the only option we have." Ichigo and Rukia Shunpo-ed across the river and entered the city proper. With a literal maze of streets, roads, and buildings, it was a nightmare just trying to focus on the faint signatures of Kon and Chappy. The task was complicated by the mass of both living people and spirits mingling with each other. Although the normal humans couldn't see them, the spirits could certainly see Ichigo and Rukia, and upon seeing them they started to run away in fear. Their flights of panic caused chaos in the streets as the dead spirits bumped into cars and other people.

"Ichigo, shouldn't we sort out these spirits first?" Rukia asked.

"And risk Kon and Chappy's lives? No way!" Ichigo exclaimed. "We can deal with them later. Right now, we have no time to waste. The two of them could be in any sort of danger." Ichigo locked onto the greatest source of spiritual energy and Shunpo-ed towards it, with Rukia struggling to keep up with them. Upon landing in the vicinity of the source, the two of them were surprised to see Renji and Lisa. The captain of the 8th division and his lieutenant were equally surprised to see Ichigo and Rukia.

"Ichigo, Rukia, what are you doing here?" Renji asked.

"We're trying to find our mod souls," Ichigo replied. "Somebody abducted them all when we were slaying hollows and now they've taken them to a place in this city."

"Now that you mention it, we were sent here to investigate a cult supposedly run by a powerful hollow," Lisa said. "Perhaps your mod souls were taken there."

"They could have been," Rukia said. "Do you know of the cult's location?" Renji and Lisa nodded. They lead Ichigo and Rukia through the downtown area of Nanjing until they reached a large warehouse complex in a fairly quiet residential area. The place reeked of hollow reiatsu, and upon entering the front of the warehouse, the décor of the surroundings, with red crosses and symbols adoring the walls, alerted Ichigo's suspicion that something was not right. Upon entering the main chamber of the warehouse, the four of them encountered a sizeable number of black hooded figures, presumably humans. The Shinigami slipped by them without notice and walked through a narrow passageway until they found themselves in what appeared to be a throne chamber. In an instant Ichigo's eyes were drawn to Kon and Chappy, on their knees and with their heads stuck in chocking blocks. They were about to be executed by two men carrying double bladed axes. Without hesitation, Ichigo kicked one of the axemen in the face, sending him crashing into a wall. Rukia knocked the other man out with her scabbard. Then they quickly broke the wooden blocks, allowing Kon and Chappy to stand up.

"Thank you so much Ichigo," Kon said. "If you had come a second later we would have been dead for sure."

"No need to thank me," Ichigo sighed. "I was just protecting my property, that's all." He and Rukia turned to the man who was standing on top of the stairs. Ichigo noticed that he was wearing similar clothes to Ban Kailong. He also sensed a strong hollow reiatsu from the man.

"This can't be right," Hong Xiuquan said, sweat flowing down his face. "How can there be two of you, Kurosaki Ichigo?!"

"What, you've never heard of gigais before?" Ichigo grinned. "The ones you captured were merely corpse dolls controlled by Gikongan souls."

"Then that means you're the real Kurosaki Ichigo!" Hong exclaimed. "The time of my vengeance is at hand!" Ichigo and Rukia looked at one another with confused faces.

"Why would he want revenge on you?" Rukia asked. Ichigo shrugged his shoulders.

"Look out, he's about to attack!" Renji shouted. The four Shinigami dodged a cero from Hong, who had cast aside his human disguise. Now his hollow visage was unmistakable. The human acolytes who had served him fled in terror when they saw what their master had become.

"Taste the wrath of Hong Xiuquan!" the hollow shouted. He flew down the stairs and lashed out at Ichigo with a pair of claws. Ichigo calmly sidestepped his attack and sliced his right arm clean with his sword. Hong crashed and slid into a wall just beside Kon and Chappy. Before he could get up he was cornered by the Shinigami, who pointed their blades near his neck.

"It's over," Ichigo said. "Whoever you were in life, you're just a hollow now. Surrender now and you may pass on peacefully to the afterlife."

"Or else suffer eternal torment in hell," Renji said. Hong sneered at them and suddenly grabbed Chappy by the throat. Then he fired a cero from his mouth, blasting a huge hole through the rooftop.

"So long Shinigami!" Hong laughed maniacally. "You'll never catch me now!" He leaped out of the building and disappeared.

"Kon, try to keep up with us," Ichigo said. Kon nodded in reply. Ichigo, Rukia, Renji and Lisa jumped up through the hole and Shunpo-ed along the rooftops. Kon followed close behind, his long legs enabling him to jump just as far as a Shinigami.

The hollow called who called himself Hong Xiuquan did not expect his pursuers to catch up to him. The blood dripping from his severed right arm, along with his leaking reiatsu, allowed Ichigo and the others to easily keep track of his movements. By the time he reached a large patch of forest in the eastern part of the city, the Shinigami were right on his heels. Hong fired a barrage of ceros with his mouth in an attempt to create a smokescreen but Ichigo and the others saw through his ruse. As soon as Hong landed in a clearing near a cemetery, he was completely surrounded. Before he could attempt to do anything to Chappy, Rukia quickly Shunpo-ed in and grabbed her out of his grasp.

"No!" Hong screamed in rage. He charged after Rukia.

"Bakudo 61, Rikujokorou," Renji said, pointing his right index finger at the hollow's waist. In an instant six golden rods stopped Hong in his tracks. He tried to break the rods apart, but Lisa casted Sajo Sabaku, constricting his arms with bands of spirit energy. Unable to move at all, Hong could only watch as Rukia and Ichigo pointed their swords at his mask. With one jab, Rukia shattered the mask, revealing his true face. For a brief moment, she stared at his face in astonishment.

"What's the matter Rukia?" Ichigo asked.

"I recognise this man," Rukia said. "I don't know from when, but during some of my dreams, his face keeps on appearing." Rukia stared into Hong's eyes, eyes that had now welled up with tears.

"You, you're my-" Hong stuttered. He paused for a moment, and sighed deeply. "I see now the monstrosity of the crimes I committed. I thought I was following the words of god, but in truth I was listening to the voice of the devil. I accept whatever punishment that awaits me now, whether it is in heaven or hell." As he dropped to his knees, Lisa and Renji released their spells. With a swift stroke, Rukia pierced her sword through his skull. A moment later the skies darkened and from out of the shadows emerged a set of giant red gates, with two colossal skeletons wrapped in bandages emerging from them. The gates slowly opened. Then in a flash a giant disembodied hand wielding a huge guard-less sword impaled Hong in the chest. With a hideous inhuman laugh the hand disappeared into the void, carrying its victim with it. A second later the gates closed and then faded away.

For a while, Ichigo, Rukia, Renji and Lisa could say nothing. It had been a long time since they had seen a hollow being sent to hell, and it was disconcerting experience.

"I never would have thought he was wicked to begin with," Lisa said. "He seemed to have redeemed his soul in the end."

"I guess he didn't redeem himself quick enough," Renji said. As the four of them, along with Kon and Chappy, explored the cemetery, Rukia came upon a tombstone and froze in shock. She collapsed onto her knees and trembled.

"What's wrong Rukia?" Ichigo asked. He saw the tombstone that Rukia was looking at-and his eyes widened in surprise. Upon the tombstone the Chinese characters, equivalent to Japanese Kanji, spelt out the words 'Rukia'. On the tombstone beside it, the words 'Hisana' were engraved in big characters.

"I don't believe it," Rukia said, unaware that she was crying. "I once had dreams about the time when I was still alive, but I never imagined that I died in a place like this."

"Of course you didn't," Lisa said, kneeling beside Rukia. "Very few souls remember the time and place of their death. But the truth is you're not the only one to have died here. Take a look around." As Lisa directed Ichigo, Rukia and Renji through the cemetery, the names of several familiar people appeared, such as Nanao, Momo, Toshiro Shuhei, and even Renji himself, written with different spellings, but their identities clearly visible.

"Oh man, I never I died in this place either," Renji said.

"I think I know why there are so many familiar names here," Ichigo pondered. "This city was the centre of a great civil war that occurred in the middle of the nineteenth century. I think it was called the Taiping Rebellion. That hollow we killed, he called himself Hong Xiuquan, didn't he? That was the name of the leader of this rebellion. They say over twenty million people died in this conflict. I can't imagine how many souls would have been lying around back then."

"Well I can," Lisa smiled. "I was there, alongside my captain Shunsui, in the direct aftermath of that conflict. Commander Yamamoto mobilized the entire Gotei 13 to send all of the souls who had died to Soul Society. I think it was the greatest single influx of souls we ever had. A large number of these souls were recruited into the Gotei 13, which had still been recovering its losses from the Quincy wars.

"So that's why nearly every Shinigami in Soul Society looks Asian in appearance and speaks a version of Chinese or Japanese," Ichigo said. He chuckled to himself at the hilarity of the explanation. After spending some more time wandering around the cemetery, the four of them returned to Nanjing's city centre. Along the way, Ichigo and Rukia got back to their gigais.

"Are you planning to go back to Soul Society now?" Rukia asked Renji and Lisa.

"Yeah, we've finished the assignment Commander Unohana asked us to perform," Renji replied. "What about you two? Have you planned where to go next?"

"We haven't," Ichigo said frankly. "After we finished our mission with Soifon and Yoruichi we tracked down the largest spiritual hot spot, which happened to be this city. In fact, I dare say our journey so far has been entirely haphazard." He looked at Rukia, who was busily looking at her soul pager.

"From what I can see, the next Jureichi is a long distance away," Rukia said. She showed Ichigo her soul pager, and his eyes widened in astonishment at how far they would have to travel.

"Crap, this place is smack in the middle of Central Asia. How are we supposed to get here? Most of our money was taken from us when Kon and Chappy were abducted."

"If you're short on money, I can give you some," Lisa said. She reached into her hakama and pulled out large bunch of notes. "The Commander gave us a lot of Chinese yuan, but we didn't need that much, so you can have the rest."

"Thank you so much!" Rukia kissed Lisa on the cheek after she took the notes. "There's enough here to book a flight there."

"Well then, I wish the two of you good luck for the rest of your trip," Renji said. "We'll report to Unohana-san on our progress when we get back. See you guys later." Renji winked at Ichigo and Rukia. The two of them watched as Lisa used her Zanpakto to open the Seirei doors. The Captain of the 8th division and his Lieutenant stepped into the portal, turned around and waved Ichigo and Rukia a final goodbye before the doors closed and disappeared. For a moment, the two of them stood in the middle of a crowded square in silence, before Ichigo looked at Rukia.

"I suppose we had better search for a flight to whatever place we're meant to go to," Ichigo said with a smile.

"Before we do that, shouldn't we look for a place to stay?" Rukia asked cheekily. Ichigo laughed and kissed her in the cheek. They walked down towards the nearest bus stop, with Ichigo nursing Rukia's still broken right arm.

* * *

This was another difficult chapter to do. It took me a long time to plan out what was going to happen in this chapter. I initially wanted to have Ichigo and Rukia travel slowly through southern China dealing with hollows, before arriving at Nanjing, but a third of the way through, I realized it wasn't exciting enough. The idea of Kon and Chappy being kidnapped, and the Taiping Rebellion providing the backstory for the chapter, was something that really intrigued me, and I tried hard to make it work. It was also an opportunity to expand Rukia and Renji's backstories, and also explore a somewhat funny concept in Bleach: that almost every Shinigami in Soul Society looked Asian in appearance. Having already grounded Bleach heavily in the real world, it was a simple matter to take a historical event involving large scale deaths and try to fit it within the context of Bleach's universe.

For those who are unfamiliar with it, the Taiping Rebellion was a massive civil war that occured in the middle of the 19th century. It involved the declining Qing dynasty on one side, and a rebel state called the Taiping Kingdom on the other. The Taiping Tianquo, or Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace, was led by a man called Hong Xiuquan. He was a Hakka Chinese who converted to Christianity after failing an official exam. Having experienced a series of dreams where he was called upon by god to eliminate the demon worshippers, Hong started a religious sect amongst his native ethnic group that quickly grew in size and became a professional army. He and his followers captured Nanjing and made it the capital of his kingdom and Hong proclaimed himself the Heavenly King. He soon lost control over the movement, and after failing to capture more territory, the Taiping kingdom was gradually defeated by the Qing dynasty and its European allies, with Hong himself dying as his capital fell.

It was a struggle to convey the aspects of Hong's character and the events of the rebellion within the framework of the story, but I did the best I could.


	5. Chapter 5: Central Asia

Bleach Fanstory: A Bleached Honeymoon

By Michael Xu

Bleach and its characters are trademarks of Kubo Tite and Shuesha. I don't hold any claim on it apart from the OCs I create

This is the sequel to Bleach: After the War, and follows Ichigo and Rukia as they embark on their honeymoon/mission around the world.

Story so far: Ichigo and Rukia were ordered by Commander Unohana to exterminate hollows around the world, and they have used the mission as an excuse to go on a honeymoon. After accompanying Chad to visit his relatives in Okinawa and assisting Soifon and Yoruichi to exterminate a hollow menace in Beijing, the two of them headed south to Nanjing, where a large concentration of hollows was believed to exist. Ichigo and Rukia went by train, but before they reached the city the train was derailed by hollows. Ichigo and Rukia escaped from the wreckage and slaughtered hundreds of hollows in the vicinity, but in the midst of the battle their gigais, which controlled by Kon and Chappy, were abducted. Ichigo and Rukia chased after the kidnappers and followed them into Nanjing proper, where they bumped into Renji and Lisa, who were investigating an underground hollow cult. The four Shinigami managed to locate the warehouse that Kon and Chappy were in, but were confronted by a hollow called Hong Xiuqian, leader of the Taiping Rebellion. Ichigo, Rukia, Renji and Lisa chased Hong to a cemetery and managed to kill him, but in the aftermath Rukia and Renji stumbled upon gravestones bearing their names. It was then that they learned they, and countless others in Soul Society, had been among the victims of the Taiping Rebellion. With the threat in Nanjing resolved, Ichigo and Rukia bid Renji and Rukia farewell, and embarked on their next destination...

Chapter 5: Central Asia

After resting in a budget motel for a night, Ichigo and Rukia got their luggage ready and caught a taxi to get to the nearest airport. The night before, they had booked a flight from Nanjing that stopped over at the Tibetan capital Lhasa, before arriving at Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. From there they would head by foot to the vicinity of the Jureichi Rukia had located in her soul pager.

"Has your elbow healed yet?" Ichigo asked Rukia as they sat in the taxi.

"Mmm-hmm," Rukia nodded, bending her right arm a few times. "It's feeling much better now. Thank you for taking care of my gigai like that."

"It was nothing. I knew you couldn't heal the gigai by yourself with Kido, plus I learnt a lot about basic medical treatment during my training as a police officer."

"Well, I guess I'm glad Urahara made these gigais to function like human bodies then," Rukia smiled.

Half an hour later they arrived at Nanjing airport. Compared to the grand majesty of Beijing's, the high tech elegance of Tokyo's, or the small but colourful charm of Naha's, Nanjing's airport looked both big yet drab at the same time. Large crowds of people streamed through the front entrance. As Ichigo and Rukia got their luggage and walked into the terminal, they wondered if they had actually booked the correct flight. They stared at the departures noticeboard and tried to find their scheduled flight.

"A 10.00am flight to Lhasa," Ichigo said, scanning down the long list of flights. "Ah, found it! It's departing at gate 17." Rukia looked at her soul pager.

"It's already ten to nine," she said. "We don't have much time left." The two of them got through check in and then walked as quickly as possible to the waiting lounge for the flight. After twenty minutes of waiting, the gate opened and Ichigo and Rukia walked down the entryway and into the plane. Upon entering the economy cabin, Ichigo was surprised at how small the plane was. With only one corridor in between and at most a hundred seats in total, the Airbus A319 was indeed much smaller than the jumbo jets Ichigo and Rukia had flown on before. They squeezed into their seats, and within half an hour's time, the plane took off from the runway.

* * *

Five hours later, the Airbus A319 touched down at Lhasa's airport. After it docked at a gate, Ichigo and Rukia walked out to the main terminal, got their bags, and walked to the departures counter.

"Let's see, which one of these flights is marked on our ticket?" Ichigo glanced at the departure times listed on a large notice board.

"I think it's that one," Rukia pointed with her fingers. Ichigo saw the flight marked 'Lhasa-Tashkent' and looked at his ticket again.

"Indeed it is," he said. "And it leaves four hours from now."

"I suppose we could have a stroll around the city," Rukia suggested.

"Okay, but we've got to make sure our luggage is safe." They requested their luggage be sent down to the loading bay of their flight. When that was done, they exited the airport and caught the next available taxi. The drive to the city centre took about half an hour. Once there, Ichigo and Rukia found a place to eat. When they were finished, they decided to kill time by visiting a nearby Buddhist temple, one of the few that the Chinese government had allowed to remain. It was a small, discrete sanctuary, bereft of decorations except for a small statue of the Buddha. There were several monks inside, praying, studying or welcoming visitors. One monk saw them enter and rushed over to greet them.

"Esteemed visitors, I so humbly welcome you to our temple!" he exclaimed in Mandarin. Ichigo, who knew how to speak it, was taken aback by his welcome.

"Uh, we're just ordinary travellers," he protested. The monk shook his head and laughed. When he addressed them again, he spoke in the common tongue of Soul Society.

"All of us here saw through your disguises from the moment the two of you entered the doorway," he said. "Are you not the legendary Kurosaki Ichigo, the protector of Heaven?" Ichigo and Rukia froze in shock.

"How, how do you know my name?" Ichigo asked. The monk grinned.

"Isn't it obvious? News of your deeds has spread throughout the world. Devout people from all religions have sensed the dramatic changes in Reiyoku in the past few weeks, and even now, the old scriptures are being rewritten, for many have proclaimed that you are the saviour in the prophecies."

"Well, what can I say? I'm astonished that I've become so well known. But I don't necessarily want the world to know what my true identity is, so even if you all know me, try to keep it a secret. It would be dangerous if ordinary people were to know the truth about the afterlife and the reincarnation cycle."

"I can promise you now that we shall keep this secret tightly to our chests," the monk said. "No one, especially not the government, will know about our meeting." Ichigo and Rukia thanked the monks for their hospitality. After a brief stroll around the city they decided to head back to the airport. Upon returning to the terminal they checked in to the departures lounge and underwent another screening check. Within an hour, they were back aboard another A319, this time bound for Tashkent. As the airbus rolled onto the runway and began its take-off, Ichigo and Rukia looked out of the window. They watched as the city of Lhasa, covered with snow on a cold winter evening, disappeared below them.

* * *

The Airbus crossed over the plateau of Tibet and the peaks of the Himalayan and then headed northwest over India and Pakistan. However, as the plane entered the airspace over Afghanistan, one of the engines suddenly blew up. In an instant the plane went haywire and began an abrupt descent. Ichigo and Rukia, like the other passengers on board, started panicking.

"What's going on?" Rukia asked. Ichigo peered out of his window to look.

"Holy crap, one of the engines has blown up!" he exclaimed. "There's no way this plane can remain stable now." He stared at Rukia, who was now visible concerned for her safety. Just then the voice of the pilot blurted from the PA system.

"Attention passengers, we have an emergency situation. Strap your seatbelts on firmly and pull out the oxygen masks as directed by the flight attendants," the voice said. "We are beginning emergency measures and will try to steer the plane to a safe landing. Please remain calm and try not to panic." Unfortunately the pilot's words were meaningless, because soon after the PA ended, the second engine of the plane blew up as well. With nothing propelling the plane, it immediately plunged downwards at a frightening speed. Everyone inside screamed in terror.

"We've got to stop this plane from crash landing," Ichigo said.

"How are we going to do that?" Rukia asked. She saw Ichigo take out his mod soul and immediately understood what to do. The two of them entered their Shinigami forms, leaving a terrified Kon and Chappy trapped in their gigais. They entered the cockpit and were shocked to discover the plane's windows had shattered, causing a howling wind to blow around. Ichigo checked the two pilots and sensed they were both died.

"This is bad," he said. "Rukia, wait here until I tell you to move. I'm going to try to halt the plane's descent." Ichigo jumped out of the cockpit window and climbed onto the nose of the plane. The fierce wind and snow battered against his face, but he pressed on until he got to the middle of the fuselage. Then in a quick flash he pulled out his Zanpakto and went Bankai. Wasting little time, he swung Zangetsu around in circles and extended the chain so that it wrapped completely around the body of the plane. Then exerting all of his Reiyoku into his sword, he jumped into the air and tried to 'pull' the plane up. It did little to stop the plane's descent. Running out of options and realizing the plane was perilously close to crashing into the ground. Ichigo quickly went back inside the cockpit again.

"What are we going to do Ichigo?" Rukia asked. "The plane's about to crash!

"I know that! Our only choice is to throw up as big a Kidou net as possible in order to cushion the plane's impact."

"I don't think that's even possible." Before Rukia could object anymore, Ichigo grabbed her by the arms and jumped out of the cockpit. He charged reiatsu in his feet and flew downwards as fast as he could. They were less than half a mile above the ground now, and at the speed they were falling, they would hit it within twenty seconds' time, followed by the plane.

"Rukia, can you create four pillars in a square formation?" Ichigo asked.

"I can, but without the incantations I don't think I have enough Reiyoku to do them," Rukia replied.

"Don't worry, I'll lend you mine," Ichigo said. He infused Rukia with his own spirit energy. With a lot more power at her disposal, Rukia quickly cast Bakudo 73 Tozansho four times, firing each of the reverse pyramids at the ground, spaced two hundred yards from each other. With the pillars in place, Ichigo reached out his right palm and shouted "Bakudo 37, Tsuriboshi!" In an instant a gigantic yellow Kidou net, spanning more than four hundred yards diagonally across, wrapped around the four pillars. Then, just as the plane was about to fall on top of them, Ichigo Shunpo-ed Rukia away. They watched in anticipation as the aircraft landed nose first into the Kidou net. Like an oversized trampoline, the Kidou net completely reduced the plane's inertia and caused it to bounce upwards for a little bit. Seeing that the plane was now only a hundred feet above the ground, Ichigo and Rukia dissipated the Bakudo spells and allowed the plane to fall onto the flat desert surface. The chassis buckled and wings snapped in half, but overall the plane was intact.

"Alright, I think we've done enough to save the plane," Ichigo said. He and Rukia returned to the plane through the cockpit windows and found their way to Kon and Chappy.

"What took you guys so long? Man, I was damn freaked out for a while there," Kon said.

"Rukia-san shouldn't frighten Chappy like that, pyon!" Chappy exclaimed.

"Sorry about the mess we caused. There was nothing else we could do," Rukia sighed. She and Ichigo got out their soul gloves and released the mod souls from their gigais, re-entered their bodies again, and placed the mod souls back in their pockets. Then they calmly waited in their seats. The surviving hostesses managed to open the door hatch and allowed the shocked and stunned passengers to climb out. They emerged to find themselves stuck in the middle of a barren wasteland, with hills all around. As the hostesses began issuing distress signals and the other passengers huddled together in tears, Ichigo and Rukia decided to break away and head north from the wreckage. They walked for some distance, climbing up a small hill until they reached a spur. From there they could see a panoramic view of an enormous valley, stretching for miles in all directions. The howling wind and the pale moonlight made it almost impossible to see things clearly.

"How far do we have to walk to get to our destination?" Ichigo asked. Rukia pulled out her soul pager and squinted at the screen.

"Um, I think we've got more than a hundred miles to go," Rukia replied.

"Well, we certainly can't go very far in this weather. Let's try finding some shelter to stay out the night. The hail and wind might get worse before it gets better," Ichigo said. Rukia nodded. She followed Ichigo down the side of the hill until they reached a narrow path overlooking a river. The cliff face on one side of the pat was steep and the path itself was incredibly narrow. Almost blind in the dark, Ichigo and Rukia stumbled their way forward until Ichigo found a hole on the side of the road. The hole was the entrance to an abandoned dwelling cut into the mountain side. The roof of the dwelling was no more than ten feet high, and the floor was bare except for a worn out rug.

"Do we really have to sleep in this place?" Rukia asked.

"Seeing as the only other choice is to brave out the blizzard outside, it's the best option we have right now," Ichigo said. He placed a Kyomon upon the cave entrance, sealing it from the outside world. He turned around and saw that Rukia had already started a small fire using a bunch of sticks she had found inside.

"Are you cold?" he asked as he sat down beside her.

"What do you think? I'm wearing only a light dress and a jacket," Rukia said. "All of our belongings were lost in the plane crash."

"I know. There's nothing we can do about them. They weren't originally our possessions anyway, so we can survive without them," Ichigo said. He noticed Rukia had got out her soul pager. She dialled the number for Seireitei and waited for a response. A minute later she hung up in frustration.

"Any luck contacting Soul Society?" Ichigo asked.

"No, the connection's dead. I can't even pick up any signals of hollow activity anymore," Rukia sighed. She almost threw her pager to the ground in frustration.

"Well, it looks like we have to rely on ourselves for now," Ichigo said. For a long time they sat there beside the fire, trying to get what little warmth they could from it. After a while, Ichigo started to feel hungry, and wished he had brought some food along.

"Ichigo, I'm scared," Rukia said. Ichigo looked into her eyes and saw she was crying.

"What's the matter Rukia?" he asked. He wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm scared of being alone, scared of being lost in a place like this. It brings back memories of those dark days when Hisana abandoned me, and I was forced to wander around Rukongai without a family, without a place to call home. For years I endured torment at the hands of strangers and all I could do was to survive. Even now the memories so painful that my mind hurts just recalling them!" She bowed her head and started sobbing. Ichigo grabbed a handkerchief from his pocket and cleaned Rukia's face when she stopped crying.

"It's okay Rukia. I understand how you feel," he said. "I experienced the same sensation after my mother died. For weeks I walked the sewers and alleyways of Karakura Town, calling out her name in a vain attempt to find her, as if I thought that would bring her back to me. Even after the incident with Grand Fisher, I still feel as if I'm responsible for killing her. But ever since I met you, and Chad, and Ishida and Inoue, I've sort of found redemption for myself. It's the same with you. I know you were alone for a long time. Urahara found you when he was a baby didn't he?" Rukia nodded.

"He gave me to a couple who raised me for a while. But then they were killed by bandits and I was forced to run for my life."

"Well, I'll make sure you never experience that sort of thing again, Rukia," Ichigo smiled.

"Hold me tightly, Ichigo," Rukia said. They waited out the night in the cave, locked in each other's arms.

* * *

Early next morning, Ichigo got up and undid the Kyomon around the cave door. He walked outside and found the ground had been covered in three inches of snow. However, the sky was a crystal blue and the air felt extremely fresh. He went back inside the cave to check on Rukia, who was still asleep.

"Wake up Rukia," he whispered into her ears. She stirred and slowly opened her eyes.

"Huh, what time is it?" she asked.

"I don't know, it's probably seven or eight o'clock. But the conditions outside are perfect. If we hurry, we can get to Tashkent within a day." Rukia was pleased at Ichigo's words and quickly got up and ready. They put out the smouldering fire and then left the cave. After walking for an hour down the mountain path, they stumbled upon a small Afghan hamlet. One of the locals there happened to know English, and after some effort Ichigo and Rukia managed to hitch a ride with a farmer who was planning to travel across the border into Uzbekistan.

They sat in the back of a rusty old van as it travelled along uneven roads and treacherous terrain until it reached the northern border. Then, after tense moment where a couple of border guards gave Ichigo and Rukia suspicious looks, the van was allowed to cross the border. It continued to travel across very dangerous and unsealed roads for some time, until it reached the outskirts of a major city. This city turned out to be Samarkand, the former capital of many central Asian empires. Ichigo and Rukia thanked the van driver after they got out near the main railway station. Before they entered the station, Rukia pulled out her soul pager and looked at it again.

"Ichigo, the Jureichi source is about two hundred miles northwest of here," she said. Ichigo glanced at a nearby wall mounted clock that pointed to quarter to two.

"If we catch a train now, we'll be able to get there before the sun goes down," he said. They looked at the departures noticeboard and found a train to a small hamlet not far from where the Jureichi was located. Ichigo secured two tickets after exchanging his Chinese yuan for the local currency. Then he and Rukia rushed towards the platforms and got on the train. Three hours later, the high speed train arrived at a place called Uchquduq. It was a small town, built in a similar fashion to Samarkand. Ichigo and Rukia withdrew some money and bought a few essential supplies at the local shops, before Ichigo managed to hire a second hand motorcycle.

"Are you sure can ride this thing?" Rukia asked.

"Of course I can. I've had extensive practice driving a motorbike when I was in the Japanese police force," Ichigo said. He put on his helmet and started up the engines. Once Rukia had put on her helmet and strapped herself firmly in the back, Ichigo sped off and headed west along a small road. They travelled through a vast desert, covered with sand dunes and sparse grasslands. This was the Kyzyl Kum, and little did Ichigo and Rukia know what they were getting themselves into. After more than an hour of driving through loose sand and kicking up a cloud of dust, the motorbike suddenly broke down, causing Ichigo and Rukia to tumble off and roll along the ground. They got up and tried to get as much sand off their clothes as possible.

"You did a wonderful job Ichigo," Rukia grumbled sarcastically. "Now we're stuck in a middle of a desert without transportation."

"Hey don't blame me for the bike suddenly breaking down. Those dealers must have conned me," Ichigo thought.

"Whatever. We're going to have to trudge all the way to our destination by foot," Rukia sighed. She and Ichigo started walking through the desert. As the sun sunk below the horizon, the temperature dropped dramatically, causing Rukia to shiver. She wished she had brought a woollen coat along. After what seemed like an endless amount of walking, the two of them climbed over a hill and found themselves staring at an incredible sight. Far ahead in the distance was the remnants of a once mighty inland lake, now consisting of mud flats as far as the eye could see. Nothing could be seen in these vast stretches of empty land, saved for the remnants of what must have been hundreds of thousands of skeletons.

"My god, this has to be the mother of all graveyards," Rukia said. "The Reiyoku gauge is off the charts! I've never seen so much spiritual activity before!" As Ichigo peered into the distance, he noticed something in the sky.

"Look at that Rukia!" he exclaimed, pointing with his fingers. Rukia gasped in astonishment. They were staring at an immense column of spirit energy, rising straight from the ground like a pillar and disappearing into the heavens. The column of energy, blue in colour, periodically spewed out jets of spirit energy that seemed to lance across the sky.

"I think those jets must have caused our plane to crash land," Rukia said. Ichigo nodded in reply. They walked for several miles towards the spiralling column. As they neared the region surrounding the vortex, Ichigo sensed numerous malevolent spirits coming towards them. He turned around and widened his eyes when he saw they had suddenly been ambushed by a horde of hollows. Most were the lowlife type, but a substantial number of them were gillians, and a few of them even appeared to resemble adjuchas.

"Shit, we're surrounded by hollows!" Ichigo swore. He pulled out his gikongan and gulped it down. Rukia quickly followed suit. As they entered their Shinigami forms, Ichigo ordered a terrified Kon and Chappy to stay close to them.

"Alright, I guess it's time for some hollow slaying," he grinned. Without speaking the command, he released his Shikai and started up Chouseki Hadou. At the same time, Rukia gathered her spirit energy and pointed her Zanpakto at the mass of hollows to Ichigo's rear.

"Tsugi no Mai, Hakuren!" she shouted. A massive blast of ice shot out of her sword and froze hundreds of hollows in their tracks. With a second command of 'shatter', she caused all of the hollows to smash into infinitesimal pieces. At this moment, Ichigo finished charging the energy in his blade. He fired a solid blue beam of energy outward, and then coiled it around like a whip. The beam scythed through hundreds of hollows, ripping their masks to shreds. Within minutes, they had killed nearly a thousand hollows, but in the distance thousands more were gathering.

"Geez, this horde won't stop coming," Ichigo said. Just as he and Rukia were about to resume their slaughter of hollows, the heavens suddenly opened and a beam of golden light cast a shadow on the ground. A moment later two figures descended from a portal high in the sky, like a pair of angels. As they got closer to the ground Ichigo could see their faces clearly. It was Susanoo and his brother Tsukuyomi. They were dressed in matching overcoats that went down to their ankles, Susanoo's being blue, Tsukuyomi's black. As soon as they touched the ground Ichigo and Rukia got down on their knees and bowed.

"Susanoo-sama, Tsukuyomi-sama, it's an honour to meet you," Rukia bowed her head.

"You may dispense with the pleasantries," Susanoo said, ordering both of them to get up. "I want to know why the two of you have come here."

"What do you mean? Rukia and I were ordered by Commander Unohana to search for the major Jureichi spots across the world and kill as many hollows as possible," Ichigo explained. "I don't see why this place is any different."

"It seems the two of you do not know the significance of this location," Susanoo closed his eyes. "Very well, I shall explain it to you. The beacon of light you see in the distance is the Nexus. This is the spot where the climactic battle of the Quincy wars took place, where Commander Yamamoto and nine other captains sealed a tear in the dimensions, and where the Royal Key was used to create the King's Realm. Now it serves as the only location where Royal Guards like us can directly materialise in the real world. Powerful spiritual entities like you could disrupt the delicate balance of forces that is contained inside the Nexus, potentially causing it to collapse."

"So that's why the two of you appeared," Rukia said. "We apologize if we trespassed into forbidden territory, but unless Commander Unohana herself appeared we can't go back on our mission."

"Well, that's something you can tell to her once you return to Soul Society," Tsukuyomi said. "The safety of the nexus is greater than the order of the Commander General."

"What is greater than my order?" came a voice from behind Susanoo and Tsukuyomi. They, along with Ichigo and Rukia, turned to look, their eyes widening in astonishment.

"Commander Unohana!" they exclaimed. Susanoo and Tsukuyomi were also surprised at her appearance, and turned around to face her.

"I did not expect you to come here, Retsu-san," Susanoo said.

"And why shouldn't I have come, Susanoo-kun?" Unohana asked with a smile. "This place is indeed off limits to normal Shinigami, but Kurosaki Ichigo is a captain of the Gotei 13, not to mention the Vice Commander of Soul Society's armed forces. He is of equal status to yourselves. Since I am now here, the two of you may return to the King's Realm. I shall sort this business out myself."

"Very well then. We will take our leave," Susanoo and Tsukuyomi bowed and stepped into the beam of light. Within moments they ascended into the sky and disappeared. After the light faded, Unohana turned her attention to Ichigo and Rukia.

"My, my, the two of you have caused quite a ruckus in the real world haven't you?" she asked, with a slight chuckle.

"Ah, sorry Unohana-san," Ichigo scratched his head. "We got ourselves into a lot of really bad situations didn't we Rukia?" Rukia nodded in agreement.

"No need to apologise," Unohana held up her hand. "It was I who gave you the order to exterminate the hollows as the Jureichi hot spots, so I should take the blame for what has happened." She observed the mass of dead hollow corpses scattered around them and sighed. "In hindsight, I should have known that two captain-level Shinigami wouldn't have been enough to eliminate all of the excess hollows that were causing trouble in the real world. Still, the two of you have exceeded my expectations, although not entirely in a positive way. I did not count on thousands of souls to show up in Rukongai all at once. It's going to take weeks for them to get sorted into individual districts." Unohana started to laugh, and after Ichigo and Rukia got the joke they laughed as well.

"Man, Rukia and I were so focused on slaying hollows that we forgot about us sending all of them to Rukongai," Ichigo said.

"I don't blame you for not knowing about it. After all, it's been a long time since the Soul Society dealt with monitoring the real world. We were all too focused in fighting Aizen's forces." Unohana paused for a moment, and then remembered what she was going to say. "Speaking of Aizen, I've just received a report from Captain Kurotsuchi saying he's made an astonishing discovering concerning Aizen's activities in the real world." Both Ichigo and Rukia were stunned at Unohana's words.

"Are you saying that Aizen had been doing something in the real world when he was still a captain?" Rukia asked. Unohana nodded.

"Almost certainly. Although I have no idea what he could have been up to. I think it might be a good idea for you to assist Captain Kurotsuchi in his investigations. He is currently in Poland, working alongside your nakama Ishida Uyru. In the report Mayuri said he could use a little help from someone who had experienced hollowfication first hand." Unohana glanced at Ichigo, who knew immediately what she was referring to.

"If it's something like that, then I'd be happy to help," he said. "But does that mean our initial assignment is finished?" Unohana nodded with a smile.

"But how are we going to get there from here? We lost all of our possessions in a plane crash and we've run out of money," Rukia said.

"No need to worry about those concerns," Unohana said. She muttered a Kidou incantation under her breath and then using her sword opened a Seireimon that resembled the one that Urahara had kept in his old shop.

"This Seireimon will transport you to the Seireimon stationed in Captain Kurotsuchi's headquarters. Please enter your gigais before entering, as the gate will materialise your physical bodies at that destination." Ichigo and Rukia quickly got into their gigais, and then on Unohana's signal they stepped through the portal. In a flash they were transported across space and time...

* * *

Sorry for the long delay again. My internet went down for a few days and I was having trouble finding inspiration. This chapter underwent a lot of revision and planning, as I had to mix in several signifigant plot revelations, whilst keeping the journey grounded in reality when Ichigo and Rukia are in their gigais. I eventually found the answer when I was trawling through history books and realized a lot of people must have died in central Asia due to countless barbarian invasions. Afghanistan and the former Soviet Republics around the Aral sea were also the perfect setting for Ichigo and Rukia to experience some genuine hardship and old fashioned adventuring, such as climbing up mountains and crossing a desert. Uzbekistan in particular had a number of historical and geographical features which suited the story, such as the city of Samarkand, the Kyzyl Kum desert, and the Aral sea depression.

Anyway, the next chapter will have some shocking plot developments and set up the second half of this story. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter, and please send me as much feedback as possible! I appreciate it!


	6. Chapter 6: Poland

**Bleach Fanstory: A Bleached Honeymoon**

By Michael Xu

Initial Comments:

Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo

This is purely a fan story and I don't own any of the characters in it, apart from OC I may create.

This is the sequel to Bleach: After the War, and follows Ichigo and Rukia as they embark on their honeymoon/mission around the world.

Summary: When Commander Unohana orders them to investigate spiritual hotstops around the world, Ichigo and Rukia decide to use the mission as an excuse for a honeymoon to celebrate their wedding. They soon discover that the mission is anything but smooth sailing. After a monster attack in Tokyo, Ichigo and Rukia follow Chad to Okinawa to visit his relatives, before helping Yoruichi and Soifon deal with a hollow threat in Beijing. They proceed on a train to Nanjing, but before they reach their destination they are attacked by hollows. Kon and Chappy get kidnapped and in the process of rescuing them Ichigo and Rukia, along with Renji and Lisa, stumble upon a grave containing the several Shinigami, including Rukia herself. With the threat in Nanjing dealt with, Ichigo and Rukia head west into the heart of Asia. As the plane crosses over Afghanistan a mysterious beam causes it to plummet to the ground. Ichigo and Rukia save it from crashing, but are left with a difficult journey across treacherous mountains and desert. The two of them spend a night in a cave, before heading north into Uzbekistan. Running low on money, they go by train, motorbike and foot in order to reach the Aral Sea region, centre of the world's greatest concentration of spiritual energy. Ichigo and Rukia are ambushed by a horde of hollows but in the middle of killing them the Royal Guards Susanoo and Tsukuyomi descend from the heavens, revealing that the place was the site of the Quincy Wars, and was now the location of the portal to the King's Realm. Soon after Unohana herself appears and apologizes for sending Ichigo and Rukia on such a difficult mission. She then orders them on a new mission: to assist Ishida and Mayuri with their investigations in Poland...

* * *

Chapter 6: Poland

Ichigo and Rukia exited the Seireimon in a daze, and almost stumbled into a tree in confusion. The sensation at having their spiritual bodies and their physical bodies dematerialize and then materialize in another location was so disorientating that both of them fell onto their backs trying to recover from it.

As he stared up at the sky above, he noticed that it was the middle of the day. Even if the ground was covered with frost, the overhead sun still shone brightly upon his face. _That's weird. The passage through the Seireimon felt almost instantaneous. Even if we're in a different time zone there shouldn't be that much difference._ When he recovered enough to get up, Ichigo scanned the surroundings. They were in a small clearing in the middle of a forest, surrounded by elm and oak trees. The trees were bare and half frozen, whilst the ground was covered in frost up to an inch thick. Ichigo had no doubt they were in the heart of continental Europe; he just wondered where the hell Unohana had transported them to.

"Urgh, I think I'm going to be sick," Rukia moaned as she got up from the ground.

A gust of wind blew across her face, causing her to shiver and grip her coat tightly. "Brrr, where are we?"

"Somewhere in Poland, I think," Ichigo replied. "Let's see if we can find a road somewhere so we can get directions." He and Rukia walked through a dense clump of trees, pushing aside shrubbery, until they exited the forest and found themselves beside a two-lane road. A few cars drove past, but the road barely separated what seemed like two halves of an enormous forest. Ichigo didn't want to admit it, but they were lost in the middle of nowhere, and unlike the previous time, there wasn't a definite location for them to head towards.

"What are we going to do now?" Rukia asked. "Didn't the Commander say Uyru was going to pick us up?" Ichigo shrugged his head.

"He might not have been expecting us," Ichigo said. "Anyway, there's no point hanging around here. Let's try to find the nearest village and get some directions." They walked north along the road, sticking close to the footpath. For what seemed like an eternity the road seemed to continue on, unbroken, as if they had been stuck in an endless forest. Then, just as Ichigo was about to give in to despair, he heard a car horn from behind. He and Rukia turned around and saw a black Mercedes Benz had pulled up beside them. The driver's side door opened and out stepped Ishida, dressed in a whitish-gray tuxedo with gray pants and a white t-shirt. He flashed his trademark smug grin at Ichigo as he walked up to them.

"Sorry it took me so long to get to you," he said. "When I sensed your arrival, I had to do a lot of preparation and paper work before I could come and pick you up, and by the time I arrived at the Seireimon, you had already left the vicinity. I searched around for ages before I sensed your reiatsu."

"Ah well, we got bored waiting in the forest, so Rukia and I decided to find the nearest town. I guess we should have stayed put since all we almost ended up getting lost," Ichigo laughed.

"You would have done more than got lost if you had walked any further," Ishida smiled. He handed Ichigo and Rukia a map of Poland and showed them where they were. "We're near the town of Auschwitz, the portal's about five miles to the south. The nearest town north of here is dozens of miles away."

"This clears up a lot of things," Rukia said as she looked at the map closely. "By the way, why was the portal placed here?"

"I can explain that and more after we get in the car," Ishida said. Ichigo and Rukia got into the back seats as Ishida turned the car around and drove southwards. They soon exited the forest and found themselves in the middle of a vast plain of farmland.

"So, did Commander Unohana tell you anything before she transported you here?" Ishida asked.

"Not much, except that you and Mayuri had found something and needed someone with knowledge about hollowfication," Ichigo shrugged. "By the way, what time is it now? It looks like mid-morning, but when Rukia and I went through the Seireimon it was the middle of the night."

"It's quarter to eleven right now, and today is the twenty eighth of December," Ishida replied.

"Twenty eighth of December? That can't be right!" Rukia exclaimed. She did some counting with her fingers. "We arrived in Tokyo on the nineteenth, and if I'm correct, we had been on the road for roughly eight days by the time we got to the Nexus, so shouldn't it be the twenty seventh now?" Ishida was silent for a moment, but then he burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Ichigo asked.

"This explains why I was caught off guard by your arrival," Ishida chuckled. "I was expecting you to arrive early yesterday, since Kurotsuchi had told me you were coming the day before. I waited the whole day but you didn't appear. Now that I think of it, the Seireimon you used must have taken a long time to transport you from the middle of Asia all the way here. Perhaps it has something to do with dematerializing and materializing your spirit particles."

"Are you saying a whole day passed by as we went through the portal?" Ichigo couldn't believe it. He got what Ishida was saying it, but it was mind boggling that they had somehow travelled forward in time.

"Well, when you meet the Commander again you can try asking her for details. Right now, I'll give a brief explanation of where we're going. The town of Auschwitz and its sister city Birkenau was the site of an infamous concentration camp during the Second World War."

"Ah yes, I've heard about that. The Nazis used it to gas millions of Jews," Ichigo said. Ishida nodded grimly.

"Whoa, whoa, slow down, I don't get what the two of you are saying," Rukia said. "Can you explain to me what happened?" Ishida and Ichigo sighed, before they went into a fairly long explanation of Nazi Germany, the Second World War and the Holocaust. They tried to keep it as simple as possible, but by the time they finished, Rukia was left shaking all over.

"No way...How could anyone systematically order the genocide of all of those innocent people?" she asked. Ichigo and Ishida were sombre for a moment.

"It's the same way a guy like Aizen managed to wipe a hundred thousand people from existence without remorse. Within the heart of some human beings lies the potential for the most unspeakable acts of evil," Ishida explained.

"I know all about the Holocaust Ishida, but what is the specific reason you and Mayuri want my help?" Ichigo asked.

"You'll find out once we get there. Needless to say, it's something to do with hollowfication."

* * *

The three of them stopped at Auschwitz for a lunch time meal. Afterwards, Ishida handed Ichigo and Rukia a bag full of clothes he had specially made for them, much to their astonishment. In the afternoon, they arrived at the site of the former Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. Though long dismantled and turned into a memorial site, the front entrance of the camp, a red brick pavilion, with a central tower, cast an ominous presence. A disused railway track ran through the entrance, whilst the entire place was surrounded by barbed wire fences. Ishida parked the Mercedes at a private car park some distance away. Then he, Ichigo and Rukia walked up to the entrance of the pavilion. A dozen security guards watched the entrance, but after Ishida showed them some identification, they allowed them through.

Inside, the former camp consisted of hundreds of plain red brick sheds lined up in neat rows. Several paths crisscrossed the place, but most of the area was covered with a layer of snow. Ishida led Ichigo and Rukia to the entrance of one such shed and opened a door. The inside of the shed was like a dark, gloomy dungeon, with a plain stone floor and grey brick walls. Rukia shivered, and so did Ichigo. The entire place reeked of spirit energy, and as they walked through the shed, Ichigo thought he could hear voices. Eventually Ishida led them to a secret doorway that led to a flight of stairs. Upon descending the stairs, they found themselves in the middle of a vast laboratory. In contrast from the dilapidated shed above ground, everything was seemingly modern, with spotless walls and floors, as well an automatic doorway.

After going through several doorways and corridors, the three of them arrived at a plain office, where they were greeted by a strange person. He was wearing a worn-out red and white overcoat and a pair of glasses, but the most noticeable feature about him was his sleek blue hair.

"My, my, the two of you sure a late," he said. "Did you know how long I waited?" His voice was unmistakable, but Ichigo couldn't believe his eyes, and neither could Rukia

"Captain Kurotsuchi, is it really you?" he asked.

"Of course. I apologize if you don't recognise me," Mayuri said. "I obviously couldn't walk around in the real world looking like my normal appearance, so the only choice was to disguise myself as my original unblemished form. I really dislike being stuck in a gigai like this but given the circumstances I have no choice. Now, Captain Kurosaki, Lieutenant Kuchiki, I have something interesting to show you." Mayuri directed Ichigo and Rukia, along with Ishida, to an observation platform overlooking a large chamber. Inside the chamber were ten prisoners with their hands and arms bound with chains. Ichigo stared at them closely.

"Who are these people?" he asked Mayuri.

"They are a group of terrorists who were responsible for an attack on Poland's capital city about a week ago," Mayuri replied. He pulled out a disc and slotted it into playing device. A second later news footage of an urban area appeared on the television screen. Ichigo and Rukia stared in horror, as they saw tons of people run around screaming in fright. A building exploded, and a helpless little girl was grabbed by an invisible force and lifted high into the air. Then all of a sudden the girl's head, followed by the rest of her body, was devoured. The screen flashed to a panicked reporter saying a few lines that were too hard to make out. Then the screen panned to a couple of terrorists who shouted phrases such as "Death to Allah", "There is no God" and "Banzai, Aizen-sama!" Finally the screen cut to a scene depicting a huge pile of bodies in the middle of a park before it finally went blank. For a whole minute Ichigo and Rukia were left speechless at what they just saw.

"As you can see, these are just a few of the scenes from a sudden attack on the central business district of Warsaw that killed four hundred people and left thousands injured," Mayuri explained. "What was unusual about this attack was how the perpetrators carried it out. Apparently they showed they showed up in the middle of a crowded area and opened several large containers, releasing a strange gas that quickly spread out and infected the nearby people. Those who breathed in the gas were reported to have suffered twitching and convulsions, before suddenly disintegrating, leaving nothing behind but their clothes. Soon afterwards, the surrounding buildings were attacked by a mysterious force, which as you saw was responsible for devouring people whole. So then, what do you make of it?"

"It looks those terrorists tried to hollowfy all of those people using that gas, and those who died merged into a menos hollow that rampaged through the buildings," Ichigo said.

"That was the conclusion I came to when the Commander and I were shown this footage, which your friend Ishida Uryu captured and sent it to Seireitei," Mayuri said. Ichigo looked at Ishida, who nodded grimly.

"I was doing some other business at the time when I heard about the attack," Ishida explained. "Fortunately I was not harmed by the gas and I managed to dispose of the menos quickly. Once Soul Society looked at the footage, Captain Kurotsuchi agreed to come over here and inspect the damage. He posed as a government agent and managed to make himself the head of the investigation process."

"The perpetuators were easily captured and were brought in for questioning," Mayuri continued. "They were a strange mix of individuals. Some were Muslim Turks and Arabs. A few were local Catholics, whilst the rest came from different parts of the world. They did not appear to have a clear motive, but as you heard from the footage, all of them shouted phrases that were quite disturbing, considering their religious affiliations."

"Did one of those terrorists really shout Aizen's name?" Rukia asked. Ishida and Mayuri nodded.

"It was primarily that aspect that convinced me there was something far more sinister at work behind the attack. That is why I convinced the authorities to quickly sentence them to death. The government didn't mind me using this site for the execution facilities, as the public were already crying for these terrorists to suffer the most cruel deaths possible, plus they were well aware of the chaos that was going on in the other countries. Also, I was fortunate enough to stumble across a hidden cache of gas containers that the terrorists failed to use. Now as an experiment and as part of the execution process, I shall use the gas upon these prisoners to see what they actually do." At this moment, Mayuri called in Nemu, who had been waiting in a storage room the whole time, to prepare the procedures. He motioned for Ichigo and Rukia to stand in the platform and observe the whole process.

A voice, Nemu's, appeared on a microphone announcing that the execution was about to begin. The prisoners inside the chamber started to scream and yell obscenities. Some bashed upon the doors in an attempt to escape. It was in vain, for soon several vents along the upper walls opened, and a white, almost invisible gas was filtered into the chamber. Within seconds the prisoners started to twitch and convulse horribly. Their eyes rolled into the back of their heads and their mouth gurgled with saliva. Then in a sudden, shocking moment, their bodies burst into millions of pieces. Ichigo knew what was going to happen, for no sooner had the physical and spiritual bodies of the prisoners disintegrated the pieces coalesced together into a monstrous bone-white creature. Three heads grew out from the torso, and when the masks formed, the entire creature resembled a giant three-headed dog.

"Nemu, have you disposed of the gas?" Mayuri barked into a microphone.

"I have, Mayuri-sama," Nemu replied. "The chamber is safe to enter." Just then, the dog-like hollow went into a rage and leaped out at Ichigo and Rukia. Its front head smashed through the windows as it tried to bite at them.

"We'd better dispose of it quickly," Rukia said. She was about to get out her Gikongan when Mayuri stopped her.

"Let me handle this," he said. He ate a Gikongan of his own and a second later went into his normal Shinigami appearance. As the hollow backed down and readied for a second strike, Mayuri jumped down to the chamber floor. He then pulled out his Zanpakto.

"Scratch and tear, Ashisogi Jizo," he said. His sword transformed into a golden-coloured trident, with the handle shaped like a hideous-looking baby's head. The hollow roared and charged at him. Mayuri calmly Shunpo-ed behind the hollow and stabbed it in the legs. In an instant the hollow froze in its tracks, shook uncontrollably, and then dissolved into a pile of liquid substance.

"Nemu, go and clean this mess up!" Mayuri called out.

"Yes, Mayuri-sama," Nemu replied. She rushed out to the chamber with a vacuum device and began sucking the liquid up as Mayuri returned to the platform above.

"Now, Captain Kurosaki, what you just witnessed, did it remind you of anything?" Mayuri asked. Ichigo shivered, recalling some painful memories.

"It does. What I saw looks exactly like my experience with Urahara-san when I was training to recover my Shinigami powers. He put me inside this Shattered Shaft that was filled with some sort of gas. Being but a newly dead plus soul at the time, the gas stimulated the encroachment of my spirit chain, and caused a mask to slowly form. I came close to becoming a hollow before I regained my Shinigami powers," Ichigo explained.

" I thought something like that must have happened," Mayuri said. "Urahara told me you underwent the hollowfication process, but since I never witnessed one myself, I had no idea what do expect. This is why I brought you here to witness the execution, so that I can confirm what been a strong hunch of mine: the gas these terrorists used in the attack is the same gas that induces hollowfication. Urahara and I developed it shortly after he founded the Research and Development Institute. Whilst we never tested it in practice, Urahara theorized a dose diluted ten thousand times would be suitable enough to speed up hollowfication on souls whose chains had already been broken. It is likely he used the same dose in that shattered shaft of his. But the gas used in the attack was a pure, undiluted solution. Used upon ordinary souls and the concentration is so strong that they cease to maintain a solid form. Used upon souls with strong spiritual pressures and it might induce their inner hollows to come out."

"Wait, what was that last line again?" Ichigo asked. "When used on strong people, it causes them to hollowfy?" Mayuri nodded. "Then this is precisely what happened to Shinji and the other former captains the day they became Vizards."

"My goodness you're right Ichigo," Rukia said. "Didn't he say Aizen infected them with some sort of gas that caused them to turn into hollows?"

"He must have stolen it from you and Urahara-san," Ishida said to Mayuri.

"You are correct. Only Urahara and I knew about the existence of the gas, which, shortly after we developed it, was sealed in a tight vault. We forgot about it for a long time, until the day when we received a request from Kensei for help. Urahara ordered me to check the vault again and it was then that I discovered it had disappeared." Mayuri said. He paused for a moment, and then suddenly freaked out. "Curse that Aizen! He must have sneaked inside and stolen the gas long before we were aware of it!" He slammed his fists against a wall in a rage. "I should have known it was him as soon as I discovered it was missing. I don't really care if people live or die, but as a scientist having some upstart like him steal my work and use it for his advantage is so humiliating! If he was still alive I'd grind his bones and boil them in acid!" Ichigo and Rukia watched on nervously. They had never seen Mayuri act like this before, nor did they really understand him as they did with some of the other actors. Ishida however knew precisely what Mayuri was feeling inside; it was the same disgust he had showed when he fought the Espada Szayel Aporro. He turned to face Ichigo and Rukia.

"Let's leave him here until he cools down," Ishida said. "I want to check out something I noticed."

"Are you it's okay?" Ichigo asked.

"Don't worry, I've been give clearance to the lower levels of the laboratory." Ichigo and Rukia followed Ishida down to the room next to the main chamber, where Nemu was just finishing vacuuming.

"Nemu-san, may I ask you for a favour?" Ishida asked.

"What is it that you seek?" Nemu replied.

"Can you show me the gas containers? I want to inspect them." Nemu nodded and climbed into a storage duct. A while later she reappeared again carrying an empty gas container. Ishida scanned the surface of the container carefully, and then noticed something near the bottom that caught his attention.

"Look at this," he said to Ichigo and Rukia. "This is a list of all the chemicals that are contained inside. They look familiar...wait a minute, this is the exact same combination of gases that the Nazis used to gas to Jews!!"

"Are you serious? If the Nazis really used it upon the Jews wouldn't it have caused millions of menos to form?" Ichigo asked.

"It might be that they used a less concentrated form, since a gas like this would be extremely unstable, even in this container."

"Even so, wouldn't it imply that the Jews who were killed all turned into hollows?" Rukia asked.

"I think that would be obvious," Ichigo said. "Every single one of those victims would have felt pain and anguish when they died, and even without the gas they would have easily transformed into hollows."

"Something's wrong with that assessment though," Ishida objected. "I found no evidence of spiritual residue in any of the parts of Poland I visited, even though the deaths of so many people should have created a huge concentration of hollows." Before Ichigo, Ishida and Rukia could speculate any further, they were interrupted by Mayuri.

"What are you three doing down here?" he asked. He stared at the gas container. "I never gave you permission to touch the containers? Who brought them out from the storage duct."

"I did, Mayuri-sama," Nemu apologized. "Uyru-san requested one of the containers."

"I wanted to examine the containers closely," Ishida explained. Whilst I was looking at them I discovered something; this may not be the first time the gas has been used on living human beings. The Jews who died in the Holocaust were subjected to a similar sort of gas." Mayuri realized what Ishida was implying. Now incredibly anxious, he motioned for all of them to accompany him to the communications room. He quickly got Commander Unohana on the line.

"This is Captain Kurotsuchi," Mayuri said. "I have Captain Kurosaki, Lieutenant Kuchiki and the Quincy with me."

"I here you Captain Kurotsuchi," Unohana responded. "Tell us what you've discovered." Mayuri showed her the gas container.

"It appears our worse fears are confirmed. The gas that was used in the terrorist attacks is the same gas responsible for hollowfication. Furthermore, the Quincy speculates that it may have been used in the past on living humans."

"This demands an urgent inquiry," Unohana said. "I want you to return to Seireitei as soon as possible. As for Captain Kurosaki and Lieutenant Kuchiki, I want them to travel to meet up with the captains of 3rd, 7th, 9th and 13th divisions who are currently in America." Mayuri, Ichigo, Rukia and Nemu all nodded. Then the screen went blank.

"Well then, you all heard the Commander's orders," Mayuri. "I shall start the closure of this laboratory and take its contents with me back to Soul Society. As for the two of you, I suggest you leave this place as soon as possible."

"Of course, Captain Kurotsuchi," Ichigo nodded.

"If the two of you don't mind, I'd like you to accompany me on a journey through Western Europe," Ishida suggested. "I'm planning to do some investigation in Berlin and Paris."

"Well, seeing as we have to catch a plane from Western Europe to America it would be best if Rukia and I tagged along with you," Ichigo said.

* * *

Sorry for the delay again. The start of University and a few busy weeks of work meant I barely had time to do any writing. In addition, this chapter was difficult to write, given that it was an exposition heavy chapter. The combination of historical events, with special reference to the holocaust, and the convulted backstory of the Bleach manga and my first story meant I had to take care not to retcon anything or write anything that would offend certain people.

For people who do not know much about the holocaust, Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest of the concentration camps in Nazi Germany, mainly used as a labour and extermination camp for jews. Unlike other camps such as Treblinka, gas was never used to kill people, but the usage of gas plays a large role in this chapter, since I've linked the gas with the hollowfication process. The developments hinted at in this chapter will be expanded upon in chapter 7.


	7. Chapter 7: Berlin

**Bleach Fanstory: A Bleached Honeymoon**

By Michael Xu

Initial Comments:

Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo

This is purely a fan story and I don't own any of the characters in it, apart from OC I may create.

This is the sequel to Bleach: After the War, and follows Ichigo and Rukia as they embark on their honeymoon/mission around the world.

Story so far: After their wedding, Ichigo and Rukia were sent by Commander Unohana on a round the world trip to clean up spiritual hot stops. Things didn't turn out as they planned and they eventually stumbled upon the Nexus, the gateway between the King's realm and the real world. Before anything catastrophic could happen Ichigo and Rukia were reassigned to assist Ishida and Mayuri with their investigations. Upon entering a special Seireimon, they were instantly transported to a place in Poland, which turned out to be near Auschwitz-Birkenau, the former Nazi concentration camp. There they met Ishida and the three of them infiltrated the camp and discovered Mayuri's secret labatory. As it turned out, a group of terrorists had attacked the city of Warsaw, unleashing a deadly gas that turned hundreds of people into hollows. The perpetuators were caught and taken captive by Mayuri, who used the gas upon them. The experiment proved beyond doubt that the gas used by the terrrorists was the same hollowfication gas used by Aizen during the creation of the Vizards. In addition, Ichigo and Rukia made another frightening discovery: that hollowfication gas may have been used in the holocaust to kill the jews. Armed with this startling new piece of information, Mayuri returned to Soul Society. Meanwhile, Ichigo and Rukia follow Ishida on the road to Berlin...

* * *

Chapter 7: Berlin

Before Mayuri had closed down his laboratory and whisked back to Soul Society, Ichigo, Rukia and Ishida were far away from Auschwitz, heading along a highway in a north-westerly direction. Their ultimate destination was Berlin.

"It's two hundred miles to the German border, and then roughly another hundred miles from the border to Berlin," Ishida said as he was driving. "At the speed we're driving at, and with the time being only quarter to two, we can make it there before sundown." His prediction was not without some weight, for the Mercedes Benz was going close to eighty miles an hour along a four lane highway. After half an hour of driving, Ishida entered onto a major freeway that went all the way to the German-Polish border.

For much of the journey, all Ichigo and Rukia saw were miles and miles of rolling hills, farmland, small villages, woodland and scrub forests, and the outskirts of a few cities. Along the way, Ishida stopped several times at petrol stations to refuel. By about quarter past five they had made it to the Neisse River, which marked the border between Poland and Germany. Ishida had to stop in a bay flanked by two booths. Several officials, some German, some Polish, stepped out and asked for identification, travel documents and passports. Ichigo and Rukia panicked, thinking they were going to be caught out, but fortunately Ishida had everything prepared beforehand. He produced Visas which had the names and records of all three of them. After some deliberation and cross examination the officials finished processing their documents and gave them permission to pass. Cross over the Neisse River, Ishida continued along the freeway, following a north-westerly route to Berlin.

"Thanks a lot Ishida," Ichigo said. "You really saved our skins."

"That was certainly smart thinking of you," Rukia added. "I wonder how you were able to obtain visas for the two of us."

"It was quite simple," Ishida smiled. "Your father emailed my father copies of your travel documents shortly after you left Tokyo. He and I had just arrived in Paris, and we were able to get fabricate visas that were completely genuine looking." Ichigo and Rukia were a bit surprised by his explanation but they accepted it. The journey to Berlin proved quite swift and just half past six Ishida had reached the outskirts of the city. As they entered the boundaries of the city proper, they passed by the Berlin-Brandenburg Airport, the main airport that serviced Berlin. The freeway snaked its way through the outer suburbs, crossing over and then running alongside a canal. After a sharp left turn the freeway became a tunnel, running for a mile underground. It became a freeway again and after several miles Ishida, Ichigo and Rukia finally arrived at the end of the freeway as it terminated in a spaghetti junction. They turned left onto a busy suburban road and headed north through the bustling inner suburbs. Within a few minutes they were in the middle of a busy shopping district. Numerous stores lined both sides of a main road. What caught Ichigo and Rukia's eye however, was a hexagonal shaped tower, a badly damaged cathedral and then another hexagonal shaped pavilion, all standing in the middle of a large public square.

"What's with that cathedral?" Ichigo asked. "It looks half-destroyed and about to collapse at any moment."

"I think it was hit by allied bombers during the Second World War," Ishida replied. "Nobody was willing to rebuild it so apart from structural renovations the church was left untouched and became a memorial site."

"Ah, I see," Ichigo nodded. Ishida drove to the end of the road and rounded the corner. Near this intersection of several major roads was a majestic building shaped like a colosseum. Ishida drove the car down into a car park right under the building and quickly found a parking spot. He, Ichigo and Rukia got out of the car, grabbed their possessions and headed for the nearest lift.

"This is the Swissotel," Ishida said. "One of Berlin's finest hotels."

"Are we going to stay here for the night?" Rukia asked. Ishida nodded.

"I already booked two rooms prior before I left for Poland." The three of them arrived at the front foyer and walked up the booking counter. When Ishida inquired about his reservations, the hotel staff nodded and produced a pair of keys. After they filled in their accommodation details, Ichigo, Ishida and Rukia were directed by a concierge up another lift. Upon arriving at level two the three of them were directed to a pair of rooms side by side. The concierge helped them open the doors of both rooms and then proceeded to carry their luggage in. When Ichigo and Rukia entered their room they were astonished at how modern, clean and spacious it was. There was a full king size bed, a lounge suite, a massive widescreen television, a computer with internet access and a personal bar. But the best feature was the view from the room, for with windows to the west and the north they could see a vast arc of Berlin. Compared to the hotel in Beijing, this was a whole class above.

"Wow, this is one impressive room," Ichigo said. "It must have been hellishly expensive to even book one."

"Not really," Ishida smiled. "My father has some business connections with this hotel, so they gave me a discount when I booked here. Anyway, I'd better let the two of you settle down." Ishida exited the door and went to his room. Ichigo and Rukia unpacked their luggage. Having not had a shower in four days they both eager to have a bath. Upon seeing the gigantic spa Ichigo suggested they have a bath together.

"Are you just using it as an excuse to see me naked?" Rukia glared at Ichigo.

"Of course not!" Ichigo protested whilst laughing. "Besides, now that we're married, shouldn't we be comfortable at seeing each other's bodies?"

"You're just like other men," Rukia sighed. Even so, she admitted to herself that she enjoyed sharing an intimate moment with Ichigo such as this. The two of them quickly and awkwardly got undressed and hopped into the spa. Much to Ichigo's disappointment, the spa was smaller than it looked and he and Rukia could barely fit their bodies inside. They spent half an hour in the spa, either cleaning or staring at each other. After getting out of the spa they quickly got changed and went down to the foyer where Ishida was waiting. The three of them went out to one of the nearby restaurants, where they had a taste of traditional German cuisine. Roast pork, roast chicken, roast potatoes, and stewed vegetables were not what Ichigo and Rukia would have liked to eat, but they stomached it. Beer was also served, but no one bothered drinking it. The total bill came out at over three hundred euro, a figure which Ichigo thought was far too high for such a simple meal. Nevertheless, Ishida paid the sum. Afterwards the three of them went straight back to the hotel. Having been on the road the whole day, Ichigo and Rukia felt exhausted. Within minutes the two of them were tucked in the bed and quickly fell asleep.

* * *

On the next day, Ichigo and Rukia woke up early, feeling refreshed after one of the best night's sleep they ever had. They got changed and went downstairs to meet up with Ishida. The three of them got in the Mercedes and then drove out of the hotel.

"Where are we going?" Ichigo asked Ishida as he drove down the same road they had gone through yesterday.

"To a house east of Mitte," Ishida replied. "Before I went to meet the two of you and Mayuri, I was searching for a certain woman who may have links to the Quincies. I discovered her phone number and address and arranged to meet her in person."

"How can you be certain that she isn't a fraud?" Rukia asked.

"I'm not so sure. But if my hunch is correct she might be proof that there are more Quinicies out there than my father and I." Ichigo and Rukia pondered Ishida's words in silence as they glanced out of the window. Ishida turned left and headed north into a vast park land area. Soon they reached a roundabout where Ishida made a right turn and headed onto a long and majestic avenue.

"This is the Strasse de 17th Juni, Berlin's main thoroughfare," Ishida said as he drove. "The park we're in is the Tiergarten, whose name derives from the zoo that is contains." Ichigo appreciated Ishida's tourist guide explanations, but Rukia was completely baffled by all of the names and wondered what Ishida was talking about. Up ahead was an immense and majestic structure, consisting of six massive columns dozens of feet high. The structure resembled a gateway to the city. When Ichigo asked Ishida about the structure, Ishida explained that this was the Brandenburg gate, which not only marked the symbolic centre of Berlin but also served as an entrance way to Unter den Linden, the eastward continuation of Strasse de 17 Juni. Ichigo stopped asking further questions about the city's landmarks as Ishida drove through the central business district. They winded their way across the maze of streets and lanes until they ended on the eastern side of the city. Ishida stopped the car beside a row of plain brick apartments.

"Let's see...I think I've got the right address," Ishida said as he got out of the car. Ichigo and Rukia followed him up the road until they reached a door which had the number '501' written on it.

"Are you sure this is this is place we're meant to go?" Ichigo asked.

"There's only one way to find out," Ishida said. He knocked on the door. A few seconds later they heard footsteps. The door opened and they were greeted by a brown-haired middle-age woman about the same height as Rukia.

"Guten tag, what are you folks after?" she asked in a combination of German and English.

"Guten tag to you, fair miss," Ishida replied back. "Are you by any chance the daughter of Maria Rosenfeld?" The woman nodded. She told them to wait outside as she ran down a hallway. A few minutes later she came back and directed them inside. As the three of them walked into the kitchen a blue energy arrow was suddenly shot at them. Ichigo and Rukia managed to dodge it as it slammed into the nearby wall. Stunned, they looked to see the person who had fired it. It was an old lady, well into her seventies. She had gray hair and wore a pair of glasses. But what instantly caught Ichigo, Rukia and Ishida's attentions was the object dangling around her right arm: the trademark Quincy cross.

"Who the hell are you people?" she asked angrily. "Clara, I told you not to let strangers in!" The woman beside her quivered with fear.

"But, the man in the white shirt said he was a Quincy," she replied.

"A Quincy? Are you serious?" the woman, who Ichigo presumed was Maria Rosenfeld, gazed at Ishida. "Why would a Quincy be accompanied by a pair of Shinigami? Those fleshy disguises are no use; I sensed your reiatsu from the moment you stepped in the door." Ichigo and Rukia were both taken aback. Ichigo considered reaching for his gikongan, but Ishida forced him to stay his hand.

"Wait a moment, I can explain everything," he said. "I am Ishida Uryu, and these two Shinigami are actually my friends. It's a long story, but in short the two of them are not like the Shinigami you're familiar with."

"Is that so? I'm interested in your story then," Maria said. "You said your surname is Ishida. Are you by any chance related to the Eshid family?"

"I am. My great grandfather was Ulysses Eshid, who migrated to Japan after the Second World War and changed his surname to Ishida."

"Aha, I thought so!" Maria exclaimed happily. "Why don't you all sit down? It's been a long time since I've seen a fellow Quincy, let alone one belonging to the exiled Eshid clan." Ichigo, Rukia and Ishida sat around the table.

"The exiled Eshid clan?" Ichigo asked in confusion. "What's she talking about Uyru?"

"Well, my family originally came from Europe, from Poland actually," Ishida replied. "My ancestors fled to America at the end of the Quincy Wars. Then after the Second World War, my great grandfather, who presumably was a diplomat, migrated to Japan along with my grandfather. He married a Japanese woman and gave birth to my grandfather."

"Gosh, I never knew you had such a convoluted family history," Rukia said.

"That's just the tip of the iceberg Shinigami," Maria laughed. "The history of the Quincy clans is so convoluted one could write entire tomes about them."

"Perhaps you can explain to us what really happened in the Quincy Wars," Ichigo said. "I've heard stories about it from various Shinigami who witnessed it first hand, but I'm guessing the Quincy perspective on it might be totally different." All of a sudden, Maria and Ishida were silent. It was understandable that they rarely discussed about the Quincy Wars.

"You Shinigami might think we Quincy were doing the wrong thing, or you might be thinking we were innocent victims of some Soul Society manipulation," Maria said. "The truth is somewhere in between. I too never witnessed it first hand, but from the stories my grandfather told me, we Quinicies were indeed responsible for initiating the conflict. It all began at the dawn of the French Revolution. Back then, there were five major clans, including Rosenfeld and Eshid. Each of them had existed for countless centuries, blending into common society whilst slowly developing their Reiyoku. Only rarely did they ever openly demonstrate their powers. That was until the legendary Syrus Belasco rose to power and declared that Shinigami were useless. With a charismatic voice, he convinced many of our people to start hunting hollows and killing them. Of the five clans, only the Eshids managed to resist Syrus' words. They kept out of the whole affair and eventually fled abroad to America. Sadly for the rest of us, we were so caught up in a crusading zeal to exterminate all hollows that we weren't aware of our actions drawing the attention of the Soul Society. They sent a few emissaries down to beg us to stop killing hollows, as we had inadvertently caused an imbalance between the real world and the Soul Society. Syrus and his group refused to listen and promptly killed the emissaries. Then he mustered the greatest army of Quincies the world would ever see. Just as Napoleon invaded Russia, Syrus' army went on a crusade through central Asia and in the process killed millions upon millions of hollows. They were eventually stopped by Soul Society, who sent its greatest captains to kill Syrus. His death caused the entire group of fall apart. The most fanatical of Syrus' followers fought to the bitter end. Others hid in the shadows and planned a revenge attack upon Soul Society. For the majority of the Quincies though, we had learned our lesson. The survivors retreated back into society. Never again would we demonstrate our powers on such a scale." After Maria finished telling her story, Ichigo and Rukia were left silent for a long time, as they took in everything they heard.

"There's still some things I don't get though," Rukia said. "From what I heard most of the Quincies perished in the wars. You make it sound like a lot of Quincies survived."

"The majority of Quincies did die during the wars," Maria explained. "At least the pure blooded ones did. In the aftermath of the wars there weren't enough purebreds around to sustain future generations. They were forced to intermingle with ordinary people. Hence over time the blood of the Quincies was gradually diluted until there weren't any genuine Quincies left. Nevertheless the clans had recovered their numbers prior to the Second World War, and could claim membership in the thousands." Ishida was astounded by Maria's words. This was something that his father and grandfather never mentioned. He always assumed that by the time Mayuri began his experiments on the Quinicies they were already few in number.

"So then, if the Quincies recovered their numbers, then what caused all of them to be wiped out?" he asked Maria directly in the face. The old woman looked into Ishida's eyes and sighed.

"The Holocaust," she said. That one word so stunned Ishida that he fell back onto the chair in shock.

"Impossible! Are you telling me that the Quincies were all massacred by the Nazis?"

"Yes. Your family might have forgotten it, but the five great clans were all descendents of the Jewish Magi who fled Jerusalem after the Romans sacked it. No matter how much diluted our blood became by the eve of the Second World War, we, like the other Jews, were marked for genocide."

"But then didn't any of the Quincies use their powers?" Ichigo asked.

"Most were still afraid of drawing the attention of the Shinigami. But even the few who used their powers were no match for the Nazis. After all, Quincies are still living humans." After Maria finished speaking, the whole room fell silent. Ichigo, Rukia and Ishida tried to comprehend this new revelation, one that completely contradicted everything they had known about the history of the Quincies.

"Well, I think that's enough of a history lesson," Maria said after drinking tea from her cup. "I'm interested to know why a Quincy would be close friends with a couple of Shinigami." Taking it in turns, Ichigo, Ishida and Rukia recounted the events of the past four years, from the moment Ichigo became a Shinigami to the downfall of Aizen and the end of the Heavenly War. They tried to keep it as simple as possible. Despite this, their story utterly amazed Maria and her daughter.

"What an astonishing tale," she said. "I never would have guessed that such world-shaking events were taking in place up there. For me, the Soul Society was always my idea of heaven or the afterlife. What you've told me just now makes it seem less inviting."

"We're doing our best to make it better, which is why Ichigo and I have come here," Rukia said.

"Is that so? Well then, I look forward to seeing what it's like when I die," Maria laughed. She was chided by her daughter.

"Pardon me, Frau Rosenfeld, but after all of this talk we've failed to mention why we specifically come to see you," Ishida said. He paused a bit to push up his glasses. "Yesterday my friends and I were investigating the terrorist attack in Warsaw. During the process we made a disturbing discovery. The terrorists had used hollowfication gas upon the people and turned them into hollows. Soul Society's had experienced with hollowfication gas before, many of them involving a dangerous Shinigami by the name of Aizen Sousuke. We've already mentioned him in regards to the events in the past four years but there is evidence to belief that this man has had operations in the real world."

"Hmm...now that you mention it, I do remember seeing some images of someone who looked like him," Maria said. "Please wait a moment here whilst I search through my archive." Ichigo, Ishida and Rukia waited whilst Maria and Clara went into another room. Sometime later they came back with several folders' worth of photos. Maria placed them on the table and started flicking through them. Eventually she found the photo she was looking for. It was a very old photograph, depicting a close up view of Adolf Hitler at the Nuremberg Rally in 1935. Maria showed it to Ichigo, Ishida and Rukia and made them look at it closely.

"From the first moment I saw this photo as a young girl, I thought something was wrong with it," she said. "Every time I looked at it, I saw a person in the photograph that didn't resemble the others at all. I showed it to other people at the time but nobody could understand what I was talking about. It wasn't until I started manifesting my Quincy powers that I realized that only my family and I could see it. I initially thought the mysterious person was an apparition or a figment of my imagination, but in a lot of other photos and even some early video recordings of Hitler the same man kept on showing up." Maria stopped talking when she saw that her three guests were utterly frozen, staring blankly at the picture.

"There's...no doubt about it. It's Aizen in that photo there with Hitler," Ichigo said.

"But how can that be? From what Byakuya nii-sama recalled Aizen was a fairly model captain at that time," Rukia said. "Surely if he went to the real world the Soul Society would have noticed."

"You're wrong. Soul Society was blind to Aizen the whole time until I came to rescue you," Ichigo said. "Urahara told me about it in the forest of Menos. Aizen had already cast Kanzen Saimin on all of the senior officers of the Gotei 13 when he first became captain, and presumably he also had control of the Central 46. But the most important fact is something Aizen mentioned when I fought him in the King's Palace; his Bankai has the power to make direct clones of himself, each one possessing all of his powers, his intelligence and a portion of his reiatsu. He could have easily had these clones disguised as other Shinigami or even humans and sent them down to the real world to manipulate dictators such as Hitler."

"But then how would Aizen make himself visible to ordinary humans?" Rukia asked. "I'm sure he didn't have Urahara's gigais with him."

"Making himself visible would be an easy task," Ishida sighed. "Shinigami are spirits right? To ordinary humans they would either resemble the grim reaper or angels in disguise. Also, I've heard that deeply religious people have far greater ability to see ghosts than people who do not believe in god. I don't know if Hitler was a catholic, but he could have easily mistaken Aizen for god and listened to his preachings. Preachings such kill all of the Jews." This time it was Maria and Clara who were in utter shock. They could not believe that there existed a Shinigami more evil and cruel than a dictator such as Hitler.

"Does this mean that Hitler was nothing more than a puppet of this Aizen?" Maria asked. Ichigo, Ishida and Rukia all nodded grimly. "Well, I don't know what to say. You people have really opened up a whole new perspective on the world that is perhaps a little disturbing."

"I'm just as amazed about this as you are, Frau Rosenfeld," Ishida said. "Until now I assumed that the Quincies were massacred during the Quincy Wars, and then the remaining survivors were experimented upon by a Shinigami who killed my grandfather. But it appears that the real culprit behind the downfall of the Quincies was Aizen, again." Ishida clenched his fists in anger. Ichigo could tell the frustration building under his friend's skin.

"I think we should inform the other captains about this," Rukia said to Ichigo, who nodded in reply.

"Dearie me, look at the time!" Maria exclaimed. "It's quarter past ten, almost time for morning tea! Would you three guests like a little homemade snack?" Ichigo, Ishida and Rukia all heartedly agreed. As Maria and her daughter started up the stoves, Ishida's cell phone went up. He took it out and glanced at the screen.

"It's my father," Ishida said. "He's sent an SMS. Let's see now...'Meet me in Paris at 5.30pm tomorrow. I'll be waiting under the Eiffel. Bring along the Shinigami as well. Ryuken.' I appears that he's got something for us."

"Well, I suppose we could stroll around this city for the rest of the day and then head out early next morning," Ichigo said.

"That's a good plan. I suggest when we get there, we'll try to get in contact with Soul Society," Rukia said. Twenty minutes later Maria was finished cooking. She brought out three bowls filled with that appeared to be pudding.

"This is Rote Grüte, or red pudding," she said. "It's a dessert we commonly eat around here. I hope you'll all like it." Ichigo and the others savoured the pudding and thanked Maria for her generosity. Ishida jotted down their details so that he could remember them. Then they left the house and got back in the car. Ishida drove off, and the three of them explored other sites around Berlin.

* * *

Part two of the Bleach holocaust revelations. This chapter is important in not only revealing a major twist in the Bleach universe, but also estbalishing some important names and events that will be used as a basis for a future story based on the Quincy Wars. It does sound like a retcon to have Aizen be responsible for the massacre of most of the Quincies, but it fits the overall basis of what's happened in the story so far, plus the next two chapters will further reveal aspects of Aizen's true sinister actions in the real world. There are some terms which may be unfamiliar to readers so I shall explain them:

Berlin-Brandenburg Airport: Although this airport is still underconstruction, I've set the Bleach story at around 2020, so by then the airport should be fully up and running.

Kaiser Wilhelm Cathedral: This cathedral was half-demolished by allied bombers during WW2. The damaged superstructure was left in tact and preserved as a memorial whilst a newer church was built beside it.

Swissotel: This hotel is actually located near the cathedral.

Strasse de 17 Juni/Unter den Linden: This is probable Berlin's most famous road. The West Berlin section of the road was so called to commemorate the risings on 17th July 1953.

Tiergarten: Berlin's largest park. Also contains the Berlin Zoo.

Brandenburg gate: Originally the central gateway into the city. Also marked the most prominent point along the Berlin Wall during the Cold War.

The Rosenfelds: I throught it would be good to introduce more surviving Quincies, mostly as a way to give further background on the race. I based their surnames on a name that I thought sounded quite Jewish.

Syrus and the five clans: I'll probably explore their origins in a future Quincy Wars story, but their story is meant to parallel the origins of the French Revolution, with Syrus being a Napoleon-like character.


	8. Chapter 8: Paris to New York

**Bleach Fanstory: A Bleached Honeymoon**

By Michael Xu

Initial Comments:

Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo

This is purely a fan story and I don't own any of the characters in it, apart from OC I may create.

This is the sequel to Bleach: After the War, and follows Ichigo and Rukia as they embark on their honeymoon/mission around the world.

Story so far: Newlyweds Ichigo and Rukia are ordered by Commander Unohana on a mission to the real world in order to clean up spiritual hot spots. Things don't turn out as they expected and Unohana is forced to give them a new assignment: assist Ishida Uyru and Captain Kurotsuchi with their investigation into a suspicious terrorist attack in Poland. What they find under the former World War 2 concentration camp of Auschwitz is the beginnings of a monstrous conspiracy, one which may have been instigated by the former enemy, Aizen Sousuke. Mayuri returns to Soul Society to inform the Commander, but Ishida, Ichigo and Rukia go on a road trip across Europe. Their first destination is Berlin, where Ishida tracks down a house belonging to the survivors of another Quincy clan. The elder matriarch Maria Rosenfeld reveals the truth behind what happened to the Quincies: nearly all were killed during the Holocaust. After putting the pieces together, Ishida, Ichigo and Rukia discover that Aizen was the one responsible for the Holocaust, using his Bankai's ability to hypnotize Adolf Hitler to do his bidding. Ichigo and Rukia must now find a way to contact the captains still present in the real world, in order to relay this information to Soul Society.

* * *

Chapter 8: Paris to New York

After spending another night at the Swissotel, Ichigo and Rukia woke up early in the morning, and swiftly began packing all of their belongings. By twenty past nine, they brought their luggage to the foyer of the hotel, where Ishida, who had woken up even earlier than them, was already waiting.

"Got everything ready?" Ishida asked. Ichigo and Rukia nodded. Ishida led them down the underground car park where the Mercedes was waiting. Having paid all of the hotel fees along with the parking fees, they were free to exit the hotel. Ishida drove out of the driveway and began heading southeast towards the outer limits of Berlin. Within twenty minutes they had already exited the outer boundaries of city and quickly skirted by the adjacent city of Potsdam. By ten past, Ishida made his way onto the main east-west freeway that would take them to the western border of Germany. Travelling at over seventy miles per hour on this unbroken stretch of high-speed freeway, the three of them made good progress. Within two hours they had reached the borders of North-Rhine Westphalia, the most populous of the German states. It took them another hour to reach the outskirts of the great urban conurbation that stretched from Dortmund all the way to Dusseldorf.

It was here that they encountered the first big snag, for the freeway soon ground to a halt due to a vast amount of traffic. Though Ishida managed to avoid the most congested parts and quickly got onto the freeway that skirted around the Dortmund metropolitan area, the going became much slower. By the time they reached Cologne, it was already nearing two in the afternoon.

"Ishida, let's stop to take something to eat," Ichigo said. "I'm starving."

"Me too. I didn't eat much at breakfast time," Rukia added.

"Okay. We'll head into the city for lunch," Ishida agreed. He turned right at a large spaghetti junction and headed west into Cologne's central business district. Ishida parked the car along the eastern bank of the Rhine river and the three found a nearby coffee shop where they ate lunch. After they finished, the quickly got back in the car and drove through the city until they got onto another freeway which headed directly to the border with Belgium. By quarter to four in the afternoon they reached the border town of Aachen. After going through the border customs, Ishida, Ichigo and Rukia drove as fast as they could through the mainly flat farmland that characterised the Wallonia region of Belgium. Skirting around the city of Liege, they made it to the French border by six o'clock.

Again they went through another routine border clearance, and proceeded to head south along a freeway to Paris. As the sky turned dark, the three of them made fast progress, and within an hour crossed over the Somme River. Shortly after the river crossing however, Ishida began detecting strange spirit signals heading towards the Mercedes. Rukia's soul pager also went off, the screen showing tons of hollows all heading towards them.

"What's going on here?" she asked. "It's like we suddenly entered a territory full of hollows."

"Want me to deal with them?" Ichigo asked the other two.

"No, going into Shinigami form now would be awkward," Ishida said. "I have a better idea." He summoned his familiar, the blue sparrow Kojaku, and ordered it to multiply into a hundred individual sparrows and scan a ten mile vicinity around the car. The newly created swarm of sparrows flew off at speeds surpassing that of the Mercedes. Even though he was still driving, Ishida could see into the eyes of each of the sparrows. He frowned when he saw the birds fly over a field full of gravestones.

"I should have known this would happen," he sighed. Ichigo and Rukia were confused.

"What do you mean?" Rukia asked.

"We're currently in the area where the main battles of the First World War were fought. Although the Western Front cut across all of northern France, it was here around the Somme region that the bloodiest conflict took place. It was said that millions of soldiers were slaughtered like lambs in these fields of blood."

"If that's the case, then this area would be full of hollows or Jibakus, traumatised by their deaths," Ichigo said. Ishida nodded grimly.

"If you had still been on your mission, no doubt this is one spot you would have needed to cleanse. But it's already getting dark and we need to get to my father's house before nine." Fortunately, the ghosts of the dead soldiers that lay in the muddy fields of the Somme only briefly disturbed their journey. Sometime after eight o'clock they made it to the outskirts of Paris, where all of a sudden they were confronted with a massive jam of vehicles. Apparently the city of lights was one place that didn't go to sleep after nightfall. Ishida, Ichigo and Rukia crawled along the freeway as it snaked its way into the urban centre. By the time the freeway ended and they crossed over into normal streets, it was already close to nine in the evening. Ishida drove as quickly as possible whilst frantically searching for his father's address. He eventually found it after driving past the Gare de l'Este station and turning left towards the Canal St. Martin. Along the canal bank was a row of buildings with colourful ground floor store fronts. Ishida parked the Mercedes along the kerb and led Ichigo and Rukia through a door next to a medical practitioner's office. When they reached the second floor, Ishida knocked on a door to the right. A few seconds later it was open and the three of them were greeted by Ishida Ryuken.

"You're late," Ryuken said in a brusque manner to his son.

"Sorry dad, I couldn't drive any faster," Ishida replied, panting heavily.

"Well I don't blame you. It's better to be late and in good health than speed and end up losing your life," his father smile and welcomed them in the door. Ichigo and Rukia placed their luggage down and fell onto a couch. It was then that they took in the detail of the apartment, and were astounded at how intricate the decor on the walls, the floor and the ceiling was. Although there weren't a lot of expensive items, the overall design of the apartment made Ichigo think it was worth millions.

"So then, Kurosaki Ichigo, tell me about your adventures," Ryuken said as he lit up a cigarette. "I heard you and Kuchiki-san had quite a lot of trouble."

"Tell me about it," Ichigo replied. He and Rukia briefly recounted their journey from Tokyo to Central Asia and then to Berlin and Poland. Ryuken was intrigued by Ichigo's description of the Nexus, but it was when the Holocaust and the Quincies were mentioned that he really took notice.

"So that is what really happened," Ryuken pondered. "Although Kurotsuchi Mayuri did experiment, especially upon our family, the majority of the Quincies were killed by Aizen. I already had knowledge about what happened to the surviving clans during the Holocaust but I had no idea that Aizen was once again the culprit behind it. What you have encountered disturbs me greatly."

"As it does for me," Ichigo said. "It's definitely news that must be delivered to Soul Society."

"Speaking of the Soul Society, I just got a message from Isshin today," Ryuken said. "He said your Commander ordered you to fly to America and try to find Urahara as soon as possible."

"What's Urahara doing there?" Rukia asked.

"Probably some sort of shady investigation," Ichigo said. "Well, we don't intend on staying in Paris for long. Perhaps if we can, we could book a flight to New York tomorrow."

"There's no need to book anything. Isshin told me before hand to arrange the flight." Ryuken handed Ichigo and Rukia a set of flight tickets. "I've booked you a twelve fifteen flight from Charles De Gaulle Airport bound for John F. Kennedy Airport. You should arrive there at close to eight in the evening."

"What are we going to do once we get there?" Ichigo asked.

"Your father told me that Captain Muguruma, Captain Otorobashi and Captain Aikawa are all stationed in New York. They'll either meet you at the airport, or be waiting for you in front of the United Nations building."

"Just give me a minute," Rukia said as she jotted all the details into her soul pager. "Alright I've got them down. Thanks for arranging everything for us." Ryuken gave a brief smile before heading into his private room. To Ichigo, it appeared he was embarrassed to be have been complimented by the Shinigami for helping them. Ishida noticed Ichigo's face and laughed.

"Don't worry about dad, he's always like this," Ishida said. "I've never seen him actually accept a compliment before, not even from my grandpa." He was about to head into another bedroom but Ichigo stopped him.

"So Ishida, are you going with us?" Ichigo asked.

"No, I have to stay in Paris to help out my father for a while. I'll return to Tokyo and visit Soul Society once your journey's finished."

"Oh well, we had a great time regardless," Ichigo thanked Ishida, who, almost like his father, gave a brief smile before going into the bedroom. _Like father like son eh, _Ichigo thought to himself. He looked at the time and noticed it was nearing ten o'clock. He and Rukia had quick late night snack, showered themselves, before going to sleep.

* * *

The sound of a crowing rooster woke Ichigo and Rukia up. When they looked at the time, they saw it was already past nine o'clock.

"Oh shit, we're going to be late!" Ichigo exclaimed. He looked around the apartment and saw that Ishida and his father had already gone out.

"What's the rush Ichigo? We've still got two hours left before we have to check in," Rukia said. "We could always catch a taxi from here to go to the airport."

"Well, I hope it turns out as easily as you say it is." The two of them got changed and ate a moderate breakfast, before hastily packing all of their stuff. Before Ichigo was about to head out of the apartment, he saw a note that had been placed on the desk beside the doorway. He picked it up and read it.

"'Kurosaki, by the time you read this I'll probably be already out with my dad. No need to worry about transportation; a taxi pre-booked for you will arrive at the door by half past nine. Ishida.' Well, I never expected them to go this far," Ichigo snickered.

"Maybe they can't help but plan out everything for us," Rukia giggled. They went down the stairs and true to Ishida's words a taxi was waiting for them.

"Are you Mr. Kurosaki Ichigo?" the taxi driver asked in English.

"I am. Can you take us to the Charles de Gaulle airport?" Ichigo asked back.

"With pleasure. Put the luggage in the boot." The two of them did and so and go into the taxi. Roughly an hour later they arrived at the entrance to Terminal 2A, a semi-circular like building which formed part of the gigantic complex that was the airport's Terminal 2. Ichigo and Rukia took their luggage and walked through entrance. Finding themselves in the middle of what was a very wide and spacious hall, they scanned for their flight on the departures notice board. Once they found it, they went through the check-in, and proceeded through customs without much fuss. By the time they reached the waiting lounge for the flight, it was already half past eleven. Half an hour later the gate for the opened and the two of them boarded the 787 Dreamliner jet bound for New York.

Much to their delight, Ichigo and Rukia found themselves seated in business class, with a whole side space with two reclining chairs reserved for them.

"Wow, this is so cool, this is the first time we've been in business class," Rukia said, giggling with excitement.

"I'm still amazed at how generous Ishida and his father were," Ichigo smiled. "To go and book such high class seats." They settled down and watched the windows as the jet trundled down the runway. Within ten minutes it was fully airborne and from below the majestic city of Paris slowly disappeared from view. Ichigo and Rukia however, were already preoccupied with the miniature television set and DVD players in front of them.

* * *

More than seven hours later the 787 Dreamliner jet touched down at John F. Kennedy Airport, dozens of miles away from central Manhattan. Ichigo and Rukia got through the customs without much trouble but upon exiting to the arrivals hall, they found no one there waiting for them.

"What the hell, weren't Love, Rose and Kensei going to pick us up here?" Ichigo asked.

"Ryuken also said they might be waiting at the United Nations building," Rukia said.

"Chh, it's going to be a pain in the arse to find them," Ichigo sighed. He quickly changed what was left of their Euro money into American dollars. Then the two of them went out and hailed a taxi. To their dismay, they discovered that a single taxi ride from the airport to the United Nations building would cost nearly forty dollars. Ichigo decided to pay the bill regardless and bid the taxi driver to them there as quickly as possible. They got in the taxi and watched as it left the rather drab terminal 8 of the airport. Soon they were travelling upon a major freeway, bound for Manhattan. The traffic they saw around them was unlike anything they had encountered so far. From the side window, Ichigo could see a row of cars going on for what seemed like miles.

"Crap, it's going to take us ages to get to Manhattan," Ichigo said.

"Maybe we should have taken the rail instead," Rukia suggested. Ichigo silently agreed for her. Unbeknownst to both of them, the taxi driver was intentionally taking much longer than was needed to get to Manhattan, taking a rather circuitous route of freeways so that by the time they got within sight of the main island, it was already nearing eleven o'clock. The first sign that Ichigo and Rukia had that they had reached Manhattan was when the taxi crossed over the famous Brooklyn Bridge. In the distance was a huge mass of skyscrapers, lit up with lots of windows and neon-lights that clustered around the lower end of Manhattan. The skyscraper that instantly caught Ichigo and Rukia's attentions was an enormous class obelisk structure rising high above any of the other surrounding buildings, topped out by a massive antenna that seemed to shoot into the sky. When asked about what the building was, the taxi driver said that building was the Freedom Tower, the main building of the World Trade Centre.

The taxi crossed over the bridge and entered the complex network of streets and avenues that made up most of Manhattan. Ichigo wondered if the taxi driver even knew what the United Nations building looked like, let alone where it was, for it seemed to him that they were going through an endless row of buildings and apartment blocks. The feeling was made worse by the fact the taxi driver continued driving along the same road shortly after getting off the bridge. Just as it almost nearing midnight, the taxi reached an intersection that was filled with literally thousands upon thousands of people. The driver parked on the side of the street and asked them to get out. They got out the taxi and grabbed their luggage from the boot. Then they looked around and noticed something was amiss.

"Hey, this doesn't look like the United Nations building," Ichigo complained to the driver.

"The UN building is a few blocks that way," the driver pointed to the right. Before Ichigo and Rukia could protest, the driver sped off, leaving the two of them stranded with luggage in the middle of the largest sea of people they had ever encountered. Literally millions had packed into a triangular shaped area covering at most three city blocks. Ichigo wondered what the occasion was.

"Ichigo, take a look at that thing!" Rukia exclaimed in amazement. Ichigo looked at what she was pointing to and his jaw literally dropped. Just a few dozen metres in front of them was a gigantic sphere, glowing with a kaleidoscopic range of colours, easily two dozen feet across. It was suspended upon a pole at the very top of a skyscraper right in the middle of the square. Slightly below the pole was a gigantic plasma screen showing the time. It was thirty seconds to midnight. Ichigo noticed that the ball was actually descending, flashing luminous lights as it did so. As the clock reached forty seconds the screen changed into a countdown from twenty, and all of a sudden the teeming crowd all around started changing out the numbers as they appeared on the screen. By the time the numbers got down to five, the atmosphere reached fever pitched as everyone seemed to literally scream at the top of their voices. Then in one glorious moment, as the clock struck midnight, the ball reached the bottom of the pole and then emitted a blazing blast of yellow light that for a brief moment illuminated the entire square, before it was followed by fireworks that seemed to burst from the roof. Ichigo and Rukia stood silent, utterly awed by the entire spectacle as everyone else started dancing, cheering and singing about.

"What an...amazing moment," Rukia stuttered. "I've never seen something like this in my life."

"I've seen new year's celebrations before, and I've heard about the Times Square ball drop, but to see it with my own eyes was something else," Ichigo said. They observed the celebrations in silence for a few minutes, before deciding to join in the fun. They dragged their luggage along, and did the best they could easing through the crowds. Along both sides of the square were dozens of shops all lit up, selling all kinds of goods, although most of it was predominantly clothing. People of all ages and backgrounds could be seen, and though the temperature around was a chilling one degree, most didn't seem to mind the cold. For a while Ichigo and Rukia were so caught up in the revelry that they forgot about their objectives. It was when the laughter and the music started dying down that they realized they had got carried way.

"Oh my, it's nearly one o'clock," Rukia said, exasperated. "How could we have wasted so much time?"

"Well, time does fly when we're having fun," Ichigo said. "We're going to have to find our way to the United Nations building by ourselves." The two of them asked around for directions and discovered that the UN headquarters was located nine blocks or so to the east. From the bottom of the Square, Ichigo and Rukia started walking along 42nd street and counted the number of blocks in their heads. The going was tedious, and with the amount of luggage they had to pull, incredibly strenuous. Neither Ichigo nor Rukia could walk more than a block without stopping for a rest.

"My hands are all red," Rukia moaned, glancing in despair at her palms.

"Mine are too," Ichigo added. They had no choice but to keep on walking. As they walked, they became painfully aware that nearby onlookers were observing them with a mix of curiosity and incredulity. A few cars even blew their horns at them as they were crossed intersections. Just as the two of them were about to give up Ichigo glanced upwards and saw a large rectangular shaped building right across the street.

"Hey Rukia, I think that's the UN building!" he exclaimed.

"Are you sure? We'd better not have walked ten city blocks for nothing!" Rukia moaned. Using what was surely the last of their strength they trudged across the intersection and walked towards the base of the building. As they got close up they saw a row full of flags lined up in front of the entrance, and in the circular area below the base of the building there was a half-broken golden globe. Several other interesting sculptures adorned the surroundings. But what caught Ichigo and Rukia's attention were the three people that were standing on the steps directly beside the front door. Ichigo and Rukia recognised them at once. Seemingly filled up with a renewed burst of energy they ran as fast as they could up the steps, before collapsing in a heap in front of Love, Rose and Kensei.

"Whoa, the two of you look like a mess," Love said.

"What took you guys so long?" Kensei asked. "We've been waiting here for four friggin' hours! Because of you we missed the new years' celebrations."

"Then, why didn't you, meet us in Times Square?" Ichigo asked, panting heavily.

"Because it would have been impossible to find you!" Kensei answered back.

"Let it go Kensei," Rose smiled. "Cut Ichigo and Rukia some slack. I've bet they've had a horrid time getting here."

"You could say that for sure," Rukia panted.

"Fine, whatever. Let's get back to the hotel first." Kensei said. Rose and Love helped carry Ichigo and Rukia's luggage as the five of them got into a Chrysler and drove off into the night.

* * *

A very quick update this time, mainly due to how short this chapter is. It's more of a bridging chapter, showing how Ichigo and Rukia manage to logically make their way from Berlin all the way to New York as realistically as possible. I originally planned for the Paris portion to be longer, including a visit to the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, but it didn't make sense in the overall story, plus it was too much of a hassle to write. So instead I had them driving through the battlefields of the Somme and encountering the ghosts of the dead soldiers. I deliberately wrote the New York portion of the story to firmly establish the time period that Bleached Honeymoon and After the War take place in, with the reference to the still under-construction Freedom Tower and then the much larger permanently-on display Times Square Ball drop.


	9. Chapter 9: Area 51

**Bleach Fanstory: A Bleached Honeymoon**

By Michael Xu

Initial Comments:

Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo

This is purely a fan story and I don't own any of the characters in it, apart from OC I may create.

This is the sequel to Bleach: After the War, and follows Ichigo and Rukia as they embark on their honeymoon/mission around the world.

Story so far: After being sent on a mission to deal with spiritual hotspots around the world, Ichigo and Rukia uncover a conspiracy hidden for more than fifty years, whilst working alongside Ishida and Mayuri. They also discover the existence of more surviving Quincies during a trip with Ishida Berlin and learn that the Quincies did not all perish during the Quincy Wars, but were instead massacred during the holocaust. Furthermore, the Nazis themselves turned out to be puppets orchestrated by the former great enemy, Aizen Sousuke. With such vital information, Ichigo and Rukia raced to inform the other captains. From Berlin, they and Ishida rode across much of Western Europe, arriving in Paris to meet with Ryuken, who had arranged a flight for Ichigo and Rukia to New York in order to meet with Kensei, Rose and Love. Upon arriving in New York, the two of them are delayed when their taxi gets bogged down in traffic and sends them to the wrong place-the middle of Times Square. They are just in time to see the dropping of the New Years' ball. They eventually meet the Vizard captains, who had been waiting beside the United Nations Building.

* * *

Chapter 9: Area 51

"So Aizen was behind all of this again?" Kensei asked in disbelief. Ichigo nodded grimly. After finally getting to sleep at well past three in the morning, the five of them woke up slightly past ten and discussed what Ichigo and Rukia had discovered whilst eating breakfast. Kensei and Rose and Love listened with a shocked silence as Ichigo recounted what he had seen in Poland and Germany.

"Man, just when we thought his evil influence was well and truly gone," Love shook his head.

"Well, we should have some inkling that he was up to something in the real world," Rose said. "It's a pity that none of us bothered to follow his footsteps."

"Do you mean you were aware that Aizen was in the real world?" Rukia asked.

"Yeah, Urahara told us that he'd located Aizen shortly before all eight of us Vizards relocated to Japan," Love said.

"Then, that would mean Urahara would know about Aizen's involvement with the Holocaust and the Nazis then," Ichigo said.

"Almost probably, I think," Kensei pondered. "Truth be told, Urahara kept his secrets real close, and never divulged anything unless he thought it was absolutely necessary. I doubt even Yoruichi and Tessai, who were his closest friends, were told everything."

"Ha, that sounds like him," Ichigo laughed. He couldn't help thinking about the time in the Forest of Menos cave where Urahara had presumably told him the whole truth. "I guess this means we'll have to go over there and question him again."

"That's the best possible solution at the moment," Rose said. "In the mean time, the three of us have to go back to Soul Society and report what you have told us. I know Kurotsuchi has told Unohana about what happened at Auschwitz, but the information you discovered in Berlin is probably even more important."

"Alright then, if we're to track Urahara down, how are we supposed to find him?" Rukia asked. Love and Kensei started laughing.

"Why don't you try phoning him?" Love suggested. "He's here in the real world somewhere and I bet he has his soul pager with him. You should be able to find his number." Rukia flicked through her address book and searched the list of contacts. Eventually she found Urahara's number and dialled it. For a whole minute there was only a dial tone. But then a young boy's voice answered.

"_Hello, this is Urahara's answering service,_" the voice, which Rukia recognised to be Jinta, responded.

"Jinta! Where is Urahara? Ichigo and I need to speak to him!" Rukia yelled at him.

"_Ah, Lieutenant Kuchiki! Just wait here, I'll go and find him._" The phone went silent for a while. Then the next voice to answer it turned out to be Urahara's.

"_Hello Kuchiki-san, what may I do for you?_" Urahara asked in his shop-keeper voice.

"Ichigo and I need to speak with you. Can you tell us where you are_?"_ Rukia spoke.

"_Oh, me, Jinta and Ururu are currently in Las Vegas right now. It's really more of a treat for them._" Rukia was about to ask what Las Vegas was but then Ichigo took the phone from her.

"Hey Urahara, can you tell me your exact address? We're planning to fly over to Vegas by tomorrow," Ichigo said.

"_Sure thing Kurosaki-san. Let's see...we're staying at the Luxor Hotel," _Urahara replied. "_Once you get to Las Vegas, you won't miss it...it's the hotel with the pyramid and the sphinx guarding it._" The line suddenly went dead.

"The Pyramid and the Sphinx? What the hell does he mean?" Ichigo was baffled at Urahara's clues. He handed the pager phone back to Rukia.

"I think we'd better plan how we're going to get to this Las Vegas place and then try to locate Urahara," Rukia said.

"Good idea," Kensei said. "Just to help you out, here's eight thousand American dollars. The three us were given over twenty grand when we came here, but even after spending several nights going to the casinos we weren't able to spend it all. I think the two of you might need it." Kensei gave to Ichigo a huge pile of bank notes.

"Geez, thanks," Ichigo said.

"Call us when you get there," Rose said. "We'll establish a direct line for you to Seireitei command." Ichigo and Rukia nodded.

* * *

For the remainder of the day Ichigo and Rukia went around New York trying to find a cheap flight to Las Vegas. They eventually scored one with Jet Blue Airways. However the flight wasn't scheduled until midday on the following day, so with nothing to do, they decided to do look around the shops and eventually ventured into the cinemas and watched at two hour movie that neither of them got at all. When they returned to the hotel, they discovered that Kensei, Rose and Love and had already left for Soul Society, leaving a note behind.

"I had hoped they'd stay longer," Ichigo grumbled. The next day, he and Rukia got everything packed up early and paid for the accommodation fares, before catching a taxi back to John F. Kennedy Airport. The check in and clearance progress took nearly two hours and by the time they were through the flight was just about to take off. They boarded a rather cramped A320 jet and then endured an uncomfortable seven hour flight to Las Vegas, with an unexpected stop-over. By the time they made it to McCarran International Airport, it was already night time. That had the advantage however, of giving Ichigo and Rukia their first chance to see the wondrous lights of Vegas, which utterly amazed them.

"My gosh, so many pretty lights!" Rukia exclaimed as she peaked into the windows.

"It must darn expensive to keep them all running," Ichigo mused. Just as the plane descended towards the runway, Ichigo spotted a shining blue light rising from what appeared to be a pyramid somewhere. _So that must be what Urahara was talking about_, he thought smugly. The two of them got through customs quickly, found their luggage and hailed a taxi. When Ichigo asked the driver if they knew where the Luxor was, the driver nodded enthusiastically. After a trip of no more than five minutes, the taxi arrived in front of an enormous black pyramid, guarded by a sculpture of a lion with a man's face.

"So that's what Urahara meant by a pyramid and a sphinx," Rukia observed. "This is so unreal." Ichigo knew what she was thinking. He had heard of the real pyramid and sphinx before, but he never there would be replicas of them. As they walked towards the front entrance, they noticed the enormous blue pillar of light that shone straight from the apex of the pyramid.

"Hey, Rukia doesn't that remind you of the Nexus?" he asked.

"You're right it does. I can't believe normal humans of capable of such feats." Once through the entrance, they discovered that the 'pyramid' was actually just an outer frame, with the interior consisting of more regular buildings. Just as Ichigo and Rukia were about to inquire at the reception, they were met by Urahara, Jinta and Ururu.

"Kurosaki-san, Kuchiki-san, it's so nice to see you!" Urahara exclaimed happily. He did not expect Ichigo and Rukia to greet him with a pair of punches to the face.

"This is for keeping more secrets from us," the two both said in unison.

"Ow, you don't have to be so mean," Urahara pretended to be all innocent and hurt.

"Drop the act Urahara, I know you know everything about Aizen's actions in the real world," Ichigo said. Urahara lowered his trademark hat.

"Yes, this is something we shall discuss tomorrow. I have a special place I want to take the two of you to visit," he said. "But for tonight, why don't you lovebirds savour what this place has to offer!" Ichigo and Rukia were taken on a wild and crazy tour of this rather bizarre place, and shown some really astonishing attractions. Two in particular was an exhibit of lost artefacts from the legendary cruise-liner Titanic, which sunk on its maiden voyage, as well as a display of rather gruesome dead bodies, some of which resembled hollows. The two of them were also stunned to see a show featuring Don Kanonji, the famous Japanese spirit medium, whose tour of Karakura Town was one that neither Ichigo nor Rukia had forgotten. Luckily for them, Kanonji failed to spot their presence in the crowd. Nevertheless, the endless chants of "BWA HA, HA, HA!!" from nearly everyone who was watching was almost too much for them to bear. They also cringed at an act featuring Kanonji and performers pretending to be Karin, Ururu and Jinta, in their disguises as the Karakura Super Heroes.

"Why that Kanonji, he's stealing our images!" Jinta roared.

"Now, now, Jinta, there's no need to be worked up about this," Urahara grinned.

"Oh man, I really need to ask Karin if this sort of thing actually happened," Ichigo sighed. Rukia however, was secretly laughing inside. After the Kanonji show, everyone decided to hit the sacks, so Ichigo and Rukia were shown to two-person suite which had an Egyptian theme to hit. They were so tired from jetlag that both of them fell asleep quite quickly.

* * *

The next day, Ichigo and Rukia met Urahara at the front entrance of the Luxor.

"Where are you taking us?" Ichigo asked.

"To a place called Area 51," Urahara replied. Ichigo was stunned by his swords.

"What's Area 51?" Rukia asked.

"You'll see what it is when we get there," Urahara said. "However, I must ask that the two of you accompany me in Shinigami form. I've managed to disguise myself as a CIA operative, but the two of you are just Japanese tourists, so it would be impossible to get you the clearance required."

"Alright, I suppose we'll have to let Kon and Chappy loose in Vegas on their own," Ichigo said. Rukia sighed in agreement. They took out their Gikongan and gulped them down, turning into their Shinigami forms.

"Listen closely you two, you're free to roam around this place, but don't cause any trouble-especially chasing girls Kon!" Ichigo exclaimed directly at the two. "And try not to spend too much money. We eventually have to return to Tokyo, so we need enough to pay for a flight there."

"I understand," Kon nodded with a grin.

"Chappy will make sure Kon behaves, pyon," Chappy said. Ichigo and Rukia left the two mod souls at the front entrance of the Luxor, and followed Urahara into a black limousine. As the three of them exited the confines of Las Vegas, they found themselves in the harsh and forbidding landscape of the Mojave Desert. After about fifty miles or so of travelling on a sealed highway, Urahara turned right onto a dirt road and followed it north. The terrain soon became much bleaker and more mountainous. Ichigo and Rukia had little idea of where they were going and how far they had travelled, because everything outside looked the same to them. However, after the limousine passed through a dried-up salt lake, Urahara turned right again into another road that led to a number of signs showing the entrance to Area 51.

Over the next few miles, they passed by a number of buildings and check points until they reached a set of plain white buildings next to the airfield. As Urahara stopped the limousine at a designated point, he got out and made sure to open both back doors to let Ichigo and Rukia out, before taking out his brief case. Ichigo and Rukia watched as Urahara spoke to a sergeant before following Urahara into the main buildings of the facility. Before Urahara followed the Sergeant down a corridor, he walked into a toilet block, secretly motioning Ichigo and Rukia to follow him.

"One word of warning before we proceed any further," Urahara said. "This place has perhaps the tightest security of any area in the United States. Whilst your presence will not be noticed, the officials here will notice if I start act like I'm talking to thin air. So until I get clearance to conduct some research of my own, just stay behind me and don't speak." Ichigo and Rukia nodded. With a morbid sense of fascination, they followed behind Urahara as he and a couple of soldiers and officials descended down a walkway into a vast underground complex. Here they were amazed at the numerous amount of weird devices on display, as all around them scientists were busy conducting experiments, mostly on new forms of technology and possibly weapons systems, but there were also what appeared to be live specimens of creatures Ichigo and Rukia had never seen before. Ichigo and Rukia followed Urahara into a vacuum sealed compartment, where he was apparently scanned for intrusion of microbes. Then, after speaking to an official, Urahara silently motioned to Ichigo and Rukia to follow him into a narrow corridor which led to another chamber, completely white and apparently deserted . They waited as Urahara checked the room for cameras and then turned to face them.

"At last we can talk without me looking weird," Urahara breathed a sigh of relief.

"Can you tell us what this place is?" Rukia asked. "It seems strange for such an advanced laboratory to exist in the middle of nowhere."

"Does it? To most normal people it wouldn't be strange," Urahara said. "This secret military installation is where the United States Government performs its most secret testing of advanced scientific and military hardware and software. Not only are the items being developed here far beyond the present state of technology in the real world, but there are also specimens here that come from Soul Society." He showed Ichigo and Rukia a box full of yellow and green balls that looked suspiciously like Gikongan.

"Truth to be told, I was the one who founded this complex, way back in the mid twentieth century, during the last period of my stint as an undercover operative for the US government," Urahara explained. "Of course, I had been working for them for nearly twenty years before, as a top scientist in the Manhattan Project, which aimed at creating the ultimate weapon, the atomic bomb. Two of these bombs were made prior to the end of the Second World War and were subsequently dropped on Japan. But then after the war, the US government set up numerous secret installations such as this one to research new and more powerful technology that could be used in their escalating cold war with the then Soviet Union. Naturally enough, I used the knowledge and even a few items I had gained during my days as Captain of the 12th division to assist the humans in developing new technology."

"So, this Area 51 thing is kind of like the Research and Development Institute," Ichigo said. "I can imagine you coming up with some pretty weird stuff."

"Actually, most of it was simply applying technology that I had already developed in the R&D institute for use in the real world. Things such as computers, robots and the internet were already around in Soul Society long before they became available to humans. However, I did take the opportunity to take further research into areas I didn't have time to explore prior to my banishments. For instance, the human gigais I gave to you and Rukia, and to Isshin, were actually developed in the real world, as they contained knowledge about the human anatomy that I simply could not obtain in Soul Society." Ichigo and Rukia were fascinated by Urahara's revelations, as they looked around the chamber and glanced at a number of secret documents.

"Let me get this straight then, this was the place where you continued developing your inventions during your exile, am I correct?" Rukia asked. Urahara nodded. "Then what was the point of showing all this to us?"

"Because this forms the basis from what I'm going to say to you next," Urahara explained. "Prior to coming over to the United States, I actually lived in Germany for some time, and met relatives of that Quincy family you discovered. As I assisted the Vizards to gain control of their hollows, I also began the process of gathering as much information as I could about what was happening in Soul Society. I managed to perfect the invisible cloak that I gave to Ichigo prior to the Heavenly War. With the cloak, I was able to go around completely invisible, with no trace of my reiatsu or at all. Even after I moved to the United States, I still returned to Europe a few times during the war to gather information about the Nazis. It was during one of these intelligence missions that I stumbled upon Aizen conversing with the dictator Adolf Hitler." Ichigo, who had an understanding of history that Rukia lacked, was shocked by this revelation, even though he had already suspected something like this had happened.

"So you did discover what Aizen was doing," Ichigo said. "I bet it was one of his Bankai clones."

"His Bankai clones? What do you mean?" Urahara was actually surprised by Ichigo's words. It was then that Ichigo remembered Aizen's own words during their battle.

"You probably never fought Aizen directly right, so you probably didn't know about his Bankai. Well, the first form of his Bankai traps his victims in a dimension of mirrors that reflect back any damage that is done to them. The second form of his Bankai allows him to create actual living copies of himself, imbued with a portion of his Reiyoku. These clones have access to all of his abilities accept Bankai, which means they are also capable of Kanzen Saimin."

"Ah I see now, this explains much of what I encountered," Urahara laughed. "I always wondered what was going on when I spotted Aizen several times in a lot of diverse places. It was the one puzzle I never fully understood. But, even if they had just been clones of Aizen and not the real one himself, I couldn't have done anything to stop him." Urahara glanced into the mirror and sighed. "If I revealed myself, I would have been hypnotized. Worse, Aizen would have most certainly alerted Soul Society to my whereabouts. And unlike my first sentence, the Shinigami sent to retrieve would almost certainly have been ordered to execute me on the spot. So all I could do is watch and observe what Aizen was doing."

"And what was he doing?" Rukia asked. "Hypnotizing those humans called Nazis and getting them to do his bidding?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much what he was doing up until the Second World War. He manipulated the dictator Adolf Hitler into starting a global conflict, and then under the cover of war, ordered the Nazis to begin exterminating all of the Jews. As you and Ishida Uyru discovered, Aizen was responsible for finishing off the Quincies, leaving only four or five who managed to escape. They, and other spiritually aware humans, were slaughtered in the concentration camps, their deaths leading to the creation of millions of hollows. All of this the two of you probably know by now. But what happened to these hollows is the true secret." Urahara turned around and looked into Ichigo and Rukia's eyes. "Aizen rounded all of the hollows up and sent them through mass gargantas to Hueco Mundo. I presume that these hollows subsequently started devouring each other and began the process evolving into menos and beyond. Aizen however, was not finished with his activities in the real world. After his original puppet Hitler killed himself, Aizen found or perhaps already had another victim: the Soviet Dictator Josef Stalin."

"So then the Soviet Union was also under Aizen's control?" Ichigo asked. Urahara nodded.

"Under Stalin's rule, it was," Urahara replied. "I assume you have read about the Soviets developing nuclear weapons a mere four years after America did. They only did so because Soviet spies managed to steal the blueprints for the bomb. At the time I didn't think there was anything suspicious going on. But when the Soviets developed a far more powerful version of the bomb at the same time as America did, I knew something was up. By then, I had seen firsthand what the true power of the atomic bomb was. When Shinji told me about the strange phenomena in Hiroshima, I flew over to Japan to investigate. I discovered that the devastated area was so infused with spirit particles that it constituted a Jureichi. And unlike victims of conventional bombs, the people who died from the atomic bomb didn't turn into hollows. Their physical and spiritual bodies were completely vaporized, whilst those who did survive developed highly attuned spiritual powers." Ichigo and Rukia were both stunned.

"Does this mean that Karakura Town became a Jureichi because of the bombing?" Rukia asked. Urahara shook his head.

"Karakura Town's case is special, as it resulted from the presence of beings with high reiatsu living in that area for a long duration. It developed as a natural Jureichi. In Hiroshima's case the entire city became a Jureichi the instant the bomb hit. Fortunately Shinji and the other Vizards assisted me with removing any traces of spirit energy from the area. But I have a feeling Aizen already knew about it long before I did. For during my final spying operation on him, I spotted him conducting research on an advanced nuclear weapon, one far beyond the power of even real world nuclear weapons today. It just so happened that on my way back to Japan I encountered Isshin, who had been ordered to hunt me down. He and I were long time friends back when I was in the 2nd division however, and I soon managed to tell him the true story. He believed everything I said and even offered to accompany me back to Russia to apprehend Aizen. I told him it wasn't necessary, as he could use his standing as the head of the Shiba clan to tip off Yamamoto into keeping a closer watch on Aizen's movement. Apparently that's what happened after Isshin returned to Soul Society, for Aizen soon stopped his activities in the real world. Around this time, I learnt several developments had occurred in Soul Society. Aizen had promoted Ichimaru to captain, alongside Byakuya, who succeeded Ginrei, but most importantly of all, I learned that Isshin had been forced to join the Royal Guards. More than likely Aizen realized that Isshin was a threat to him and so had him banished to the King's Realm."

"So that's why dad joined the Royal Guards," Ichigo mused. "He never really told me the reasons. I assume that Aizen stopped going to the real world and decided to experiment in Hueco Mundo instead?"

"Yes, you're quite right, Aizen went to Hueco Mundo for the first time shortly after Isshin's promotion," Urahara said. "He set up his base of operations inside Las Noches, which I must say he was not the one who built it. Las Noches had already existed for an untold number of years, and was likely built by some long forgotten race. In any case, Aizen claimed Las Noches for himself and began doing experiments with the hollows he had created twenty years before. Most of them had long since evolved into gillians, adjuchas and Vasto Lordes, whilst the rest hid in the depths of the menos forest. What happened next is perhaps something you'd no doubt be familiar with, Kuchiki-san." Rukia suddenly remembered what happened to Kaien, and the hollow who could fuse with other spirits.

"Oh right, he created hollows with Shinigami-like abilities," she said. Urahara nodded.

"Naturally he was never able to create true genuine arrancars until much later on. But I'm afraid that experimenting on hollows was not the only thing he was doing there. Do the two of you still recall what happened when Karakura Town was destroyed?"

"Of course we do. It's an image neither Rukia nor I will ever forget. On that moment, it looked as if a massive nuclear explosion had detonated. Just before we left for Tokyo, I remember seeing a huge mushroom cloud rise up hundreds of miles into the air," Ichigo recounted.

"That's exactly what I had suspected," Urahara lowered his hat. "The weapon Aizen used to create his pseudo-Royal Key was the nuclear device he had been experimenting on years before. The true danger for us all is if Aizen managed to create more than one version of it. If he did, there is a chance that they could still be hiding in the real world, waiting to be used by individuals or groups with malicious intent."

"Kind of like the same group that attacked Warsaw with the hollowfication gas?" Rukia asked.

"Maybe. But in any case, I suggest the two of you return to Soul Society and tell the other captains everything that I have spoken about here. I too will return to Soul Society once I wrap up my duties." Ichigo and Rukia nodded with determination. They both knew that something had to be done to locate these weapons of mass destruction, or else the tragedy of Karakura Town would repeat itself.

* * *

By the time the three of them returned from Area 51, it was already past seven at night. Upon entering the Luxor hotel, they were met by a screaming Jinta and Ururu.

"Kisuke-san, big trouble, Kon and Chappy were spotted by Don Kanonji!" Jinta yelled.

"They're performing in his act," Ururu added.

"WHAT?!!" Ichigo and Rukia asked in shocked tones. They rushed through the hotel and burst into the theatre that Kanonji's show was performing in, and stopped in their tracks. Up on the stage was Kon, dressed up in a weird spandex costume with the letters 'KR' on it, and Chappy, wearing a big bunny suit. The two of them were doing ridiculous stunts as Kanonji screamed out "Spirits are always with you!" and the crowd did the trademark laugh again. Enraged, Ichigo flew into the centre of the crowd and with one massive reiatsu burst knocked everyone except Kanonji, Kon and Chappy out. He then flew right in front of a stunned and stammering Kanonji, who recognised him.

"Oh my god, it's you!!" Kanonji shouted. "The real Kurosaki Ichigo!" Ichigo punched him in the face and grabbed him by the collar.

"What the hell are you trying to pull here? It's bad enough that because of your antics my face is known all over Japan, but this act of yours will make the public aware of Shinigami and hollows!"

"Um, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to recruit the two of them," Kanonji whimpered. "They begged me to join the act." Ichigo was surprised by this.

"I'll deal with them later. But promise me you that you won't mention the Karakura Superheroes thing again. In repayment, we'll wipe the memories of everyone here so that no one will know about this." Kanonji nodded weakly as Ichigo let him go. Then he and Rukia went around with memory replacements erasing the memories of this show from the minds of everyone in the audience.

After their task was finished, Ichigo and Rukia confronted Kon and Chappy.

"What did I tell you about not causing trouble?" Ichigo asked Kon, shaking him so violently that Kon almost frothed in the mouth.

"I'm sorry, we couldn't help it. Chappy spent most our money buying lots of candy and clothes, whilst the rest was lost when I was tricked by a hooker who seduced me in a back alley," Kon cried. Ichigo looked at Rukia, who was just as amazed as he was.

"I don't believe this. The two of you wasted nearly six thousand dollars in a single day," Rukia shook her head.

"We were worried that you would kill us for spending it all, and the only choice I could think of was to make money real quick," Kon said. "Kanonji offered to pay me ten thousand dollars to appear as a once-off act in my guise as the Karakuraizer." Ichigo looked at Urahara, who suddenly burst out laughing.

"Ah, ha, ha, I didn't think the little joke I pulled when Karakura Town was moved to Soul Society would become world famous," he smiled.

"Well, thanks to my efforts it won't be world famous," Ichigo said. "Alright, Kon, I assume you know where the cash is." Kon nodded, and led them all to the hotel rooms where he showed Ichigo a briefcase full of notes. Then Ichigo pulled out a soul glove and knocked Kon out. Rukia did the same with Chappy. The two of them got back into their gigais and hastily changed into normal clothes, whilst Urahara, Jinta and Ururu were laughing outside. When the whole farce was over, Ichigo and Rukia accompanied the other three to a restaurant and ate.

"So, Kurosaki-san, Kuchiki-san, is the two of you planning to go back to Soul Society from here?" Urahara asked in his shop-keeper voice.

"No, we have to go back to Tokyo first and meet up with our division," Ichigo replied.

"They must be sick and tired of being on duty by now," Rukia added.

"In that case, may I suggest you take a little detour before going there?" Urahara said. "Why don't you stop by the island of Hawaii? I know that the two of you have tried to make this trip into a honeymoon, but I can imagine that it hasn't turned out like you expected. Hawaii will be a chance to enjoy a few days of total peace and quiet before you resume your duties in Soul Society."

"That sounds like a good idea to me," Ichigo said. "What do you think Rukia?"

"Well, I am in need of a little rest. These past few weeks have been so bewildering that I still haven't grasped the full sense of what has happened," Rukia said.

"Wonderful! If you'd like I'll arrange tickets for both of you," Urahara offered.

This is the climax of A Bleached Honeymoon, and as expected it contains a lot of startling revelations. People who live in America and with knowledge of 20th century history would be able to understand the historical references in this chapter quite easily. Las Vegas was the iconic cities that was perfect for the setting. In terms of the locations and the story, I had great fun choosing the two centrepieces for this chapter, the Luxor Hotel and Area 51. The Luxor Hotel was chosen simply because of its fantastic design, being a replica of a pyramid and having a sphinx as well as huge beam of light shooting into the sky. I didn't need to go into extensive description of it, nor do a long tour of the interior. Area 51 is such a well known top secret location, and the setting of many sci-fi/conspiracy stories that it was the perfect place to go for the final revealing of the conspiracy. I thought it would be natural that Urahara would have founded, given that its whole purpose sounded similar to the R&D department in Soul Society. As for Aizen's true secret master plan, hints to its extent were given in previous chapter as well as foreshadowings in After the War, but the true revelation of the plan serves as a basis for future stories. The next chapter will be the conclusion to this story, which in itself will form only one part of a much larger piece of work.

Some points I would like to note:

Aizen's Bankai-For those who haven't read After the War, Aizen's Bankai has two forms. The first, Horu no Kagami (hall of mirrors) traps a victim in a dimension of mirrors for all eternity. Escape is impossible, as each of the mirrors carries a damage transfer effect that causes any hits upon them to be relfected back at the sender. The second form, Kagami Kage (mirror shadow), creates mutiplie living clones of Aizen, each with a portion of his reiyoku, reiatsu, intellect, knowledge and abilities. The only thing the clones cannot do is use Bankai themselves.

Don Kanonji: I thought it would be a great idea to bring him back. I read somewhere that Luxor has this show involving a magician who deals with spirits, so having Kanonji be his replacement in the future was definitely fitting. Also, I thought it was funny to reference the Karakura Superheroes, as well as the upcoming Karakuraizer, who will feature in Episodes 213 and 214 of Bleach.

* * *


	10. Chapter 10: Hawaii

**Bleach Fanstory: A Bleached Honeymoon**

By Michael Xu

Initial Comments:

Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo

This is purely a fan story and I don't own any of the characters in it, apart from OC I may create.

This is the sequel to Bleach: After the War, and follows Ichigo and Rukia as they embark on their honeymoon/mission around the world.

Story so far: Ichigo and Rukia's adventure is almost at its conclusion. After going around the world stamping out spiritual hot spots, the pair uncover the shocking truth of how Aizen was able to create the Arrancars and the Royal Key. Following on their work with Ishida and Mayuri, Ichigo and Rukia travel to Las Vegas and meet up with Urahara Kisuke, who takes them deep inside Area 51, the secret US research facility that Urahara himself founded. It is there that Urahara reveals how Aizen was able to turn the victims of the holocaust into hollows and move them to Hueco Mundo, where they eventually evolve into the Arrancars and the Espada. Urahara also reveals the secret behind the bomb that destroyed Karakura Town; it had been a product of Aizen's experiments with nuclear physics when he was manipulating the Soviety Union. With the truth of the past finally let loose, Ichigo and Rukia prepare to return to Soul Society, and share the information they have found...

* * *

Chapter 10: Hawaii

Ichigo and Rukia returned to the McCarran International Airport the next day, and boarded a connecting flight to Los Angeles. The flight from Las Vegas was brief and by quarter to eleven they arrived at terminal one of Los Angeles International Airport. After going through baggage declaration, they quickly exited the terminal and walked along the outside pedestrian way to terminal two. Upon entering the terminal, they looked at the departure timetable.

"A half past twelve flight to Honolulu, that's the one Urahara booked for us," Rukia pointed. Ichigo nodded. The two of them went through check-in and customs again, before being allowed into the waiting area. Fifteen minutes later, the gate to the Hawaiian Airlines 767 opened and Ichigo and Rukia boarded the plane. They found their seats and got as comfortable as they could, waiting for the jet to roll onto the runway. Within twenty minutes the flight was airborne and Ichigo and Rukia contented themselves with the on board entertainment and refreshments.

"How long have we been on the road for?" Rukia asked Ichigo. "It feels like a lifetime since we left Tokyo."

"Let me see..." Ichigo counted with his fingers. "We left on the nineteenth and now it's the fourth, so in total that makes it seventeen days since we arrived in Tokyo. More than half the time was spent travelling from one place to another. Come to think of it, we never really got to explore the cities we visited very well."

"That's because we were busy doing our mission."

"You're right about that, but in the end, our mission didn't turn out so well either," Ichigo sighed. Rukia knew what he meant. In hindsight, she wished they hadn't accepted such a hard mission in the first place.

* * *

Six hours later, the Hawaiian Airlines flight descended towards the island of Oahu, the most populous of the Hawaiian Islands. As the jet banked around for a descent, Ichigo and Rukia glanced out the windows, taking in the breathtaking views of Honolulu and the surrounding mountains, as well as a glimpse of Pearl Harbour, headquarters of the US Pacific fleet, and the site of the infamous Japanese attack in the Second World War. Upon arriving at Honolulu airport, Ichigo and Rukia were greeted by a stunning outdoor garden area as they walked from customs to the arrivals lounge. They found their luggage and walked to the arrivals area, when both of them realized they hadn't booked any accommodation.

"Oh man, we should have thought about this before we came here," Ichigo slapped himself on the head.

"What are we going to do then? If we're going to stay here for a few days we'd better find somewhere to sleep," Rukia scolded him."

"I'll try and see if I can book some rooms at a local hotel." Ichigo spotted a hotel booking desk nearby and asked the people there if there were any good accommodation available. The Hilton Hawaiian Village located on Waikiki beach was the most intriguing hotel available, so he decided to book a one bedroom suite in the Ali'i Tower, presumably the most expensive on offer.

"Are you sure we can afford the accommodation fees?" Rukia asked as Ichigo finished booking the rooms.

"Of course we can. We've got ten grand to spare, more than enough to last us the three days and two nights we'll be staying here for," Ichigo replied.

"Well, I just hope there's enough money left for us to return to Tokyo." Walking outside the terminal, they hailed a taxi that took them directly outside the front entrance of the hotel. They looked out the windows of the taxi, admiring the views as it headed south. For the first ten minutes they passed through what appeared to be the major port area, full of warehouses, sheds and silos. But then as taxi neared a gigantic ocean liner resting beside a pier, the streets and the houses suddenly colourful and vibrant, with lots of palm trees and grass lawns. Going along the main southern road, Ichigo and Rukia saw numerous shops and buildings lined up on both sides, as well as a second giant ocean liner parked beside another pier. The taxi driver explained that they were passing through the downtown district, which explained why there were so many buildings

Soon Ichigo and Rukia could see the beach, and the crystal blue sea that extended far off into the distance. It was a magnificent sight, one more impressive on the ground than when they had viewed it whilst flying overhead. A minute later the taxi stopped in front of a set of lavish-looking hotel buildings, each one several stories tall. Ichigo and Rukia stepped out of the taxi and grabbed their luggage. As the taxi drove off, the two of them glanced upwards at these impressive structures.

"Wow, these hotels all look so expensive," Rukia said. "Would they be more luxurious than the one we stayed in Berlin?"

"There's only one way to find out," Ichigo grinned. They entered the doors of the front building and inquired at the reception. After showing their hotel reservations and obtaining a set of keys, the two of them were directed by hotel staff through the building, out into an open space are with lots of palm trees and into a large hotel building at the very rear of the 'village.' The interior of the hotel was incredibly modern, with bright vibrant colours. The hotel staff directed them to the elevator, which they rode all the way to the second highest floor. They walked their way around until they found the room number Ichigo had booked. Upon entering the room, they were taken back at how large it was. The 'room' was actually a one bedroom suite, complete with an ensuite, a separate shower and toilet, an open spaced living room with recliners, and an outdoor veranda providing spectacular views of the beach and the Pacific Ocean.

"Gosh, you booked an entire unit for the two of us?" Rukia asked Ichigo. "How much did you afford exactly?"

"About three thousand dollars for two nights' accommodation," Ichigo said. Before Rukia could object to the cost, Ichigo raised his hand. "I know it sounds expensive, but the price includes all the services within this resort with the exception of food and shops of course. Plus, we still have seven grand, more than enough for a flight back to Tokyo."

"Whatever you say. I just hope we don't spend too much whilst we're staying here."

"That wouldn't be a problem if I was the one managing the money," Ichigo grinned. Rukia shot him an angry look before she grabbed her luggage and stomped into the bedroom. Ichigo was left to ruse his choice of words.

An hour later, the sun had well and truly gone down. Ichigo and Rukia had finished settling into the suite. The two of them now went back to the ground floor and started exploring the resort. Just outside the Ali Hotel was a massive outdoor pool area, surrounded by lots of palm trees. Although the pool was closed at the moment, Ichigo could imagine how many people would gather around it during the day time. Then, as they rounded the tallest of the resort's hotels and walked onto the beach, they stumbled upon a man-made lagoon many times larger than the pool.

"Wow, a small lake with an island in the middle!" Rukia remarked. "It's so amazing that humans are capable of creating something like this."

"Are you that amazed? This miniature lake isn't that special, even though it looks really nice," Ichigo commented. "There's far more impressive man-make lakes and ponds elsewhere."

"Well, pardon me for not knowing as much as you do," Rukia pretended to sulk. The two of them decided it was time to find something to eat. After a bit of questioning, they were directed by some of the other travellers nearby to go to the tower right in front of them. This was the Rainbow hotel, apparently the most famous of the hotels in the resort. They went inside and inquired about the Bali by the Sea restaurant. The hotel staff showed them a map and some directions and soon they were able locate it. The Bali by the Sea turned out to be a large, but elegant restaurant, with glass windows providing a near complete view of the beach and the ocean.

"Hi there, we'd like to book a table for two," Ichigo asked the receptionist near the entrance of the restaurant.

"Just wait a minute," the receptionist walked out of the counter and asked another one of the staff before coming back. "We've got a table for two available." The receptionist directed Ichigo and Rukia to a small squarish table situated right beside a window that overlooked the Pacific Ocean.

"This is a really nice spot they picked for us," Rukia said. "Being able to see the ocean." She continued to glance out the window as Ichigo started flicking through the menu.

"It seems they have a lot of good quality fish and seafood fare," Ichigo said. "Is there anything you want Rukia?" The two of them took turns choosing what meals they wanted and once they were finished they waited for the waiters to come by and serve them. As the first of the meals arrived and they started eating, Ichigo had been thinking of something in his head.

"You know, ever since our wedding, we haven't had a lot of chances to get closer to one another," Ichigo.

"What do you mean?" Rukia asked, almost choking on some food. "We've been beside each other on this trip the whole time."

"But most of the time we were either acting in our roles as Shinigami, or we were simply moving from one place to another. There hasn't been a lot of chances for the two of us to spend some time together."

"I still don't get what you're saying Ichigo. We were _very_ close when you and I hid in that cave in the middle of Asia, and what about the bath we shared in Berlin? I think those were close enough for me."

"Are you sure about that?" Ichigo teased Rukia. "I don't think either of them compared to the moment when you and I were in the hot springs." Rukia suddenly blushed, her face turning a light shade of red.

"I don't think it's appropriate for us to talk about that here," she said.

"Okay, shall we talk about that during a night time walk along the beach? Or in our bedroom?" Ichigo asked. Rukia was too embarrassed to speak. The night wore on, and so did the meals, but neither of them talked much to each other, although they did comment on how good the food tasted. By the time they finished eating, it was nearly nine o'clock and the restaurant was about to close. They quickly walked back to the Ali hotel, returned to their room and went to sleep. After all, it had been a long day and they were still jet-lagged from the long flight from Las Vegas.

* * *

The next morning, Ichigo woke up feeling fresh after one of the most comfortable sleeps he ever had. He looked around and noticed that Rukia was gone.

"Rukia? Rukia! Where are you?" he called out three times in a row. He searched every nook and cranny of the suite but could find no trace of her. Then he saw a note on the desk beside the couch. It read: '_Gone out to do some shopping, will be back for lunch. Rukia.'_ Almost at once Ichigo searched for his wallet and found that almost half of their money had been taken.

"Why that b-," Ichigo almost lost control of himself. "Where the heck did she go?" He hastily got dressed and rushed down to the ground floor. When he inquired at the reception, the staff there had no clue where she was. Then an idea hit him; _if I was Rukia, I'd head for the shops and see what I could buy with all that money_, Ichigo thought. He headed down to the ground floor and started searching through each of the shops. When he entered a store with a lot of swimwear, marked by an overhead sign saying 'Allure', he spotted Rukia holding up a pair of bikinis. Ichigo stealthily walked towards her without being heard or seen. He sneaked right behind her and laid his hands upon her shoulder.

"Eeek!" Rukia shouted when she felt Ichigo touching.

"Found you," Ichigo grinned.

"What are you doing Ichigo?" Rukia asked, still recovering from the surprise.

"That's a question I should be asking you. Why did you run off with half of our money by yourself? You could have at least told me about it in person."

"I...wasn't sure if you would even lend me money to use for shopping," Rukia stuttered. "Plus, I wanted a chance to be by myself for once."

"Geez, what were you thinking," Ichigo shook his head. "Of course I'd give you money if you asked me for it. After all, the trip back to Tokyo shouldn't cost more than two grand. And I have no problems with you wanting to be by yourself, but you should have at least told me where you were going!" Ichigo realized he had gotten carried away with the last few words when he saw how sad Rukia looked.

"I'm sorry Ichigo," Rukia sighed. "I just couldn't bring myself to ask you personally. So I thought it would be best to be as discrete with it as possible."

"I forgive you Rukia. But please, if you've got something on your mind, don't keep them to yourself. I'll always be there for you." Rukia cheered up a bit and nodded her head.

"So, how does this bikini look?" she asked Ichigo.

"I don't know. Why don't you try it on?" Ichigo suggested. Rukia went into a closet and when she came out again Ichigo could hardly believe how stunning she looked. The bikini accentuated her curves, and the bra even added cleavage to her breasts. Rukia then fitted a traditional Hawaiian skirt over her bikini.

"How do I look now?" Rukia asked.

"You look gorgeous," Ichigo smiled. Rukia winked back. After paying for the clothes, she followed Ichigo back up their hotel room. They decided to change into their bathers and head down to the beach. Even though it was early January, the temperature was still quite warm in Hawaiian. As Ichigo and Rukia walked out of the Ali hotel, they saw a throng of guests and travellers swimming in the outdoor pool. When Ichigo stepped into the pool, he received quite a shock, for the water was astoundingly cold. His reaction at least was mild compared to Rukia, who shrieked out when she tried to dive into the pool.

"Eeek it's so cold!" she exclaimed. She scrambled to get out.

"Baka, try to test the water first before you jump in," Ichigo reminded her. Rukia splashed water into his face. Soon they got used to the pool and swam in it for a while, before they got bored with it. Rukia wrapped a towel around herself, whilst Ichigo simply dried his hair.

"Seeing as we have nothing better to do, why don't we go for a stroll along the beach front?" Ichigo asked.

"I'm fine with that, as long as we don't go into the water again," Rukia said. They put on sandals and walked along the beach front, firstly going around the artificial lagoon again and then heading along the coast towards what appeared to be a large cliff head in the distance. When Ichigo realized how far off the cliff head was, he gave up on walking all the way. Instead, he waded in the shallow water near a stone pier.

"What are you doing Ichigo?" Rukia asked. She watched as Ichigo sifted around the rocks, dipped his arms into the water, and then yanked something out.

"Look at this Rukia!" Ichigo exclaimed. He had discovered a sparkling blue pearl shaped like a rabbit head, which had been lodged between some of the rocks.

"Oh my god, it looks a like a rabbit!" Rukia fawned over the pearl. "It's so beautiful..." Before Ichigo could react, she snatched the pearl out his hands and made a run for the hotel.

"Hey, what the-come back here Rukia!" Ichigo yelled out, charging after her.  
"It's finders keepers, and I found it first!"

"Talala, I claimed it first, so it's mine!" Rukia teased Ichigo as she ran. She ran back into the hotel and entered and closed a lift just as Ichigo ran through the front entrance. The lift shut in his face. In a frantic hurry, he found a nearby set of stairs and ran like hell up them until he reached the level where their suite was. He saw Rukia get out of the lift just as he reached the top of the stairs. Rukia was shocked that he was able to catch up to her. In a mad dash she reached the door of their suite, unlocked it, went inside and then shut the door just as Ichigo reached it.

"Hey, let me in!" Ichigo banged onto the door.

"Nyah, I know you want the pearl back!" Rukia teased Ichigo.

"Fine, if it's that the way you want to play then..." Ichigo took out Kon's mod soul from his shirt pocket and gulped him down. "Kon, you stay put for a moment."

"Uh...okay," Kon nodded. In Shinigami form, Ichigo Shunpo-ed down the stairs, raced outside, and then leaped into the air until he reached the window of their suite. He landed right on the window pane and opened it. Catching Rukia totally by surprise, he jumped inside in one swift motion.

"Alright Rukia, hand it back," Ichigo grinned.

"That's not fair, you turned into a Shinigami," Rukia sulked. "Plus, this pearl looks very valuable. Maybe we can sell it and make a lot of money."

"Why would we need more real world money when we're going back to Soul Society anyway? I bet you stole it just because it looks like a rabbit." Ichigo saw the look on Rukia's face and silently gloated over the fact that he was correct.

"Fine then... I took this pearl because it's bunny shaped. But that doesn't mean I can't keep it!" Rukia exclaimed.

"In that case, why don't we have a little spar, whoever wins gets to keep the pearl." Rukia was taken aback by Ichigo's proposal. _Me, fight against Ichigo? I'll never be able to win, unless..._ She remembered how honourable Ichigo was, and smiled. She took out Chappy from her bag and gulped her down, turning into her Shinigami form.

"Very well then, I'll fight you Ichigo, and if I win I get to keep the pearl, are you happy?" she asked. Ichigo was pleased, thinking that victory was already his. Before they left, he opened the door and let Kon inside.

"Kon, whilst Rukia and I are away, you can do anything you like to Chappy," he whispered secretly to him.

"Do you mean I can touch her anywhere?" Kon whispered. Ichigo nodded. The news almost made Kon water from the mouth.

"What are you and Kon up to?" Rukia asked as Ichigo turned around.

"Nothing. If we're going to spar, we had better head outside," Ichigo replied. As soon as he and Rukia jumped out of the window, Kon pounced upon Chappy and covered her mouth before she could scream.

"What is this all about, pyon?" Chappy asked. She saw into Kon's eyes, and noticed they had become perverted.

"Ichigo-san said I could anything with your body, so that's what I'm going to do," Kon grinned. Chappy let out a big "PYON!" as Kon let loose.

Ichigo and Rukia Shunpo-ed across the Honolulu skyline, high above any of the buildings. As Hawaii was not a spiritually active spot, their presence was not seen at all. The two of them made their way to the rock formation Ichigo had seen earlier. As it turns, the rock formation was merely one side of a volcanic crater remnant. The crater itself was mostly parkland with a few buildings and parking areas to the north.

"Well, I think this place is deserted enough, but let's stick to Zanjutsu okay?" Ichigo asked. His words apparently did not reach Rukia's ears, for she immediately shouted "Mae, Sode no Shirayuki!" and went into Shikai mode. Before Ichigo could raise his guard Rukia took a swing at his neck.

"Rukia, why are you so serious about this? It's only a spar," Ichigo complained.

"Even a sparring match counts as actual battle, and I know how strong you are, so forgive me for not holding back," Rukia grinned. She swung at Ichigo several times, all of which Ichigo easily dodged. Rukia then mixed it up by charging Reiyoku with her Zanpakuto, forming a trail of snow that dripped down to her feet. Ichigo knew what she was going to do next.

"Tsugi no Mai, Hakuren!" Rukia shouted. She fired a powerful stream of snow and ice from her blade towards Ichigo. Ichigo thought about blocking it, but decided to side-step it instead. Before Rukia could react, he had already Shunpo-ed behind her.

"Don't be so careless with the energy attacks," Ichigo said. "Even though we can't be seen, the people on the ground will be frightened if too many bright lights suddenly flash up in the sky." Rukia blushed again, embarrassed that she had forgotten about such an important detail.

"Then we can't really fight can we?" she asked. "Not when there are so many people around." Ichigo thought for a minute, and then realized something.

"Well, as long as we stay high up in the air, our reiatsu won't affect ordinary people."

"Does that mean you're going to fight me seriously now?" Rukia said sarcastically. Ichigo gave her a mischievous grin, before instantly going into Shikai without calling out his sword's name. With Zangetsu in his hand, he fired off a Getsuga Tensho, partly as payback for Rukia's ice attack. The blue crescent blast was so fast Rukia barely managed to dodge it, and briefly lost her mid-air footing. This allowed Ichigo to Shunpo right below her and grab her sword.

"Checkmate," he said arrogantly. Rukia was stunned for a moment, struggling to comprehend how quickly Ichigo had beaten her.

"This isn't over yet!" She pulled Ichigo's hand away.

"You're not going to admit defeat? You sure are a sore loser," Ichigo joked at her.

"That wasn't even a fair fight!" Rukia yelled back. In desperation, she shouted out "Bankai!" Ichigo could only watch in awe as an immense sphere of snow and white energy engulfed Rukia's body, obscuring her from view. A few seconds later Rukia emerged again, now wearing a dazzling white gown instead of her normal Shinigami uniform. Her forehead was crowned with a white tiara, a white scarf hung around her neck, and her feet were now covered by elegant white shoes. Her body was surrounded by a dense shield of snow, and Rukia herself was standing upon a snow cloud several feet above the ground.

"Sode no Shirayuki, Yukihime," Rukia said. "Come to think of it, you haven't seen my Bankai have you?"

"Yeah I missed the moment when you attained it. I must say I am amazed at how beautiful you look. You truly are a snow princess," Ichigo complimented her.

"Thank you, but I want you to compliment me on my powers," Rukia smiled. With a wave of her hand, she sent a stream of snow at Ichigo, who dodged aside. He was surprised when the snow followed him. Rukia changed it up by shooting another stream of icicles at Ichigo. With two separate attacks following him around like homing missiles, Ichigo was hard pressed to shake them off.

"This is getting a nuisance," Ichigo said to himself. He stopped in his tracks, knocked the icicles away and then went Bankai without bothering to shout the phrase. Little more than seconds later he emerged with his black Bankai robes and nodachi sword.

"You went Bankai without shouting out the command?" Rukia asked. "How could you do that?"

"It's something I managed to master a long time ago," Ichigo replied. "And here's something else I mastered a long time ago…" He Shunpo-ed again, this time doing it so fast that Rukia couldn't even see him. Then in a flash she saw a sword around her neck.

"Second victory for me," Ichigo whispered softly into her ear. "Are you going to give up now?" He could feel Rukia's body tremble all over, partly from the nerves of battle, but also from the shock of his body rubbing against hers.

"As if I can give up so easily!" Rukia laughed. In a quick motion she sprayed some snow into Ichigo's face with her left hand, and then turned around and slashed through the buckle that held Ichigo's robe together. When Ichigo regained his eyesight, his saw his jacket had been cut apart. He was quite amused.

"I see, trying to strip me naked eh? Well then, I can do the same to you," he snickered. Before Rukia could react, Ichigo got through her guard and slashed through the obi that was holding her gown together. Rukia shrieked and tried to cover the gown up with her hands.

"Ichigo you meanie! I'm not wearing anything under the gown!" she yelled at him. As soon as Ichigo realized what she meant he started laughing.

"You should give up now. Unless you want to be further embarrassed." Realizing that she was in shape to fight, Rukia decided to forfeit. Ichigo walked towards her, took off his Bankai robes and wrapped it around Rukia's shoulder. As he was doing so, Rukia took advantage of his distraction and grabbed Ichigo by the neck.

"Rukia, what are you doing?" Ichigo asked.

"Victory is mine Ichigo," Rukia grinned. She dive-bombed towards the ground, her hands tightly wrapped around Ichigo. The two of them crash landed in the sand, right beside a large park garden. When the dust cleared, Rukia was lying on top of Ichigo, whose face was pressed into the sand.

"I win Ichigo," Rukia said with a triumphant air.

"Urgh, that's not fair, you tricked me!" Ichigo protested. Rukia pressed his face deeper into the sand.

"I won fair a square, so I get to keep the pearl for good." Rukia kissed Ichigo in the cheek and released her grip. Just as she was about to get up however, Ichigo pounced onto her dragged her to the ground. Then in a mad tumble that partly resembled a courtship dance, the two of them rolled across the sand before winding up under a palm tree. This time Ichigo was top, with Rukia lying flat on her back. Most of her robe was open, almost exposing her chest.

"Looks like this isn't over yet," Ichigo smiled. Rukia struggled to break free.

"Let me go Ichigo!" she shouted. Her cries were silenced when Ichigo kissed her firmly into the mouth. Initially Rukia resisted his advance, but soon gave in and returned his kiss with equal passion.

"You know, I'm starting to think you purposely stole the pearl from me simply so the two of us would end up like this. Am I right?" Ichigo asked. He chuckled when he saw Rukia's face was red all over. "It's not like I wouldn't have given you the pearl if you asked for it." Rukia thought about lying, but then she remembered the words Ichigo had said to her in the clothing store.

"It's true, I did it all as a big joke on you, Ichigo," Rukia smiled. "It was the only way I could think of to remove all the stress that had been building up inside me since our trip began." When Ichigo heard her words, he couldn't stop laughing.

"That's the funniest thing I've ever heard from you, Rukia," he chuckled. "So you were stressed out all this time huh? Was it because of the strain of our travel together, or were you stressed because you couldn't think of a way to express your love for me?" Ichigo's question made Rukia blush again, for in her heart she knew it was the latter. Ichigo knew it as well, for he could see through her embarrassment clearly.

"I'm...not the kind of girl who would openly express my love for someone."

"I understand. I've been with you for a long time and I know you don't like to admit your feelings. But that's the thing I love about you the most Rukia."

"Really? You think my emotional toughness is a good thing?"

"Of course. What really attracted me to you was the way you were more worried about how other people such as myself were feeling. Without you around to provide me with emotional support, I might have lost control of the darkness in myself."

"The darkness in you? Are you referring to your inner hollow?" Rukia asked. Ichigo nodded.

"There was a moment during my fight with Ulquiorra where I lost control of my sanity and became a raging mindless hollow. I didn't know it at the time, but I found out later I had accidentally harmed Ishida and Inoue. It was partly because of this reason that I never spoke to Ishida after we went into hiding. It made me question why I wanted to protect anyone in the first place."

"I get it now, you were afraid that you would hurt them more than help them. Isn't that the same thing that happened to me? When I was sent back to Soul Society to be executed, I didn't want you to come after me, because I was afraid I'd cause you much harm and distress, just like I did with Kaien-dono."

"It seems we're both more worried about the safety of others than our own safety," Ichigo laughed. "No wonder we became so emotionally stressed out. I think at times we should just let go and not worry about anything." He and Rukia kissed each other again.

"Ichigo, I've been wondering...what does it feel like to make love?" Rukia asked. In an instant, Ichigo's heart started racing, and his face blushed all over in embarrassment.

"I don't know. I'm still a virgin too you know. Even though I befriended a lot of girls at school such as Inoue and Tatsuki I was never really interested in them," Ichigo replied. "Come to think of it, can spirit beings reproduce?"

"I'm not sure...I've heard from Nii-sama that the noble families were all born in Soul Society. But I haven't heard any spirit give birth for many years, so I don't know."

"Well then Rukia, this means we're about to head into uncharted waters," Ichigo caressed her face and shoulders. His touch caused Rukia to tingle in sensation all over. She did the same with Ichigo, rubbing her hands against his broad shoulder muscles.

"I'm ready when you are Ichigo," she said in a sultry tone. Ichigo smiled. He embraced her passionately, and as the sun descended slowly under the ocean, they made love under the palm trees of Hawaii.

* * *

A day later, Ichigo and Rukia returned to Tokyo, and received a surprise upon their exit from the airport. Minazawa, Mariko, Tanaka, and the other fifth division members had turned out in force to greet them. All of them were wearing loose casual clothes.

"Captain Kurosaki, Lieutenant Kuchiki, it's great to have you back!" Minazawa exclaimed.

"Thank you Minazawa. Did all of you have fun whilst we were away?" Ichigo asked. The two hundred squad members all cheered in agreement. Ichigo looked at Rukia, who smiled happily.

* * *

This is the end of A Bleached Honeymoon. It was one hell of a journey, both for myself and for the characters involved. I always planned on Ichigo and Rukia making love at the end, for that will be a seque in for my next story. Writing the whole scene was quite difficult however, given the constaints I had to write it in. In addition, I had to do a lot of research on Hawaii, and Honolulu especially, in order to make the story fit into the locations. I was planning on having a scene where Ichigo surfs the Hawaiian waves and where Rukia gets a massage, but both of those were too hard to fit in.

All of the locations mentioned in the chapter, most notably the Hilton Hawaiian Village, are based on real locations, so anyone who is interested can look them up. The only tidbit I would like to mention is Rukia's Bankai, Sode no Shirayuki, Yukihime (Snow Princess). It was featured in Bleach: After the War, but I thought it was nice for Ichigo and Rukia to have a mock battle with one another.

I hope everyone has enjoyed this story as much as I have. I'll be starting on a new Bleach story really soon.


End file.
